Anchor
by ReedsOBrien
Summary: In a new world filled with the supernatural, broken friends, betrayals, and new dangers, all Lillian Sanders and Stiles Stilinski need are anchors to keep them from afloat. [Trigger warning: Abusive relationship, mentions of self harm]
1. Wrong Locker

_**Chapter 1: Wrong Locker**_

 **Beacon Hills County**

 _{Small town. Huge Possibilities}_

Lillian's hazel eyes scanned over the wooden words carved into the old, rickety welcome sign as her father's truck drove by. The noticeably old sign had seen better days as it appeared bleached, with its green hills drowned out to a mediocre pale color, and the yellow font chipped at the edges.

 _This was it. For the love of-_

She couldn't even finish her thought as she rubbed her temple with her middle and index fingers in frustration. Supposedly, this was going to be her new home until she was off to college. She couldn't believe that he had said yes! This had to be some sick joke, right?

 _To this job in this town?_

The air was noticeably tense between the two occupants, as it had been for awhile even before her father mentioned moving. Both of their eyes focused on the long stretched out road ahead. Nothing struck Lillian as appealing and soon her eyes flickered down to her phone that was in her other hand.

She hated it here.

 _Point, blank, period._

She's heard the stories of Beacon Hills. All of the strange and mysterious, unexplainable incidents that have taken place within the last couple of years. The supposedly " _rabid animals that suddenly appeared four years ago_ ". She's not stupid, and neither is her dad. They both knew that the town was fishy. They knew well: Beacon Hills is a dangerous place. Like a black hole- _a void. A beacon for craziness._

However, she kept her protests to herself. Her dad wasn't going to listen to her bitching and moaning and it was far too late to even try. Their new home was ready. She was already transferred to the high school in the area. Her new life was already beginning, even if she didn't want it to. Just the thought alone of having to go to an entirely new high school- not that the last one was any better, however- made her feel on edge. The mere thought made her feel sick to her stomach. It felt as though she couldn't breathe. And every time she tried, they came out shallow. Her father glanced over at her, seeing the disgusted look on her face. She was more quiet than usual, he was at least expecting a comment here and there.

"You may not see it yet, but you'll like it here. I can promise you that. The high school is great, the restaurants here are some of the best, and…"

Her father's voice soon faded as Lillian gazed out the window, losing herself in her own head as he continued talking at her, not to her. And as she usually does when she did this, she nodded every once in awhile to show her apparent acknowledgment. When really, his voice faded into nothingness, and her thoughts were all she could hear.

They were all she could ever hear really. And they were more louder than usual, nearly suffocating.

* * *

A few days had passed since the move. The U-Haul emptied and gone, their new house was barely being filled up. The living room and kitchen were fully furnished. It was as if it was a mask to cover how the second floor was nearly hollow. Upstairs, in the bedrooms and bathrooms, there were still boxes everywhere, untouched.

While Mr. Sanders was just too busy transferring over his paperwork to his new office, Lillian showed no interest in putting in the effort to make this place her new home.

 ** _Riiiiiiiiiing_**.

Lillian's eyes shot open as her alarm went off. A blank wall with boxes stacked up on each other stared back at her as she wiped the sleepiness from her eyes. The nerves set in immediately as she realized that it was her first day of school.

In an effort to not go, as soon as she knew she was in earshot, she started coughing violently and groaning in faux pain. She tried putting on the best act that she could, hoping her father would tell her to stay home for the day.

Well, emphasis on _tried_.

She tried playing sick. Her father saw right through the charade. Instead of being able to stay at home and survive another day she had even less time to get ready.

Her fingers drummed on her bag as she bounced her leg against the leather of the car seat. She began to see students walking in the direction they were driving. The longer they went north, the more and more people she saw, all with backpacks or bags hung over their shoulder. Their mouths moving in passing conversations.

"Ready for your first day?"

Her father's voice made her jump. She glanced over at her dad for a few moments, somewhat annoyed. Then, almost automatically, she faked a smile, putting on a face like nothing was bothering her. However, she couldn't hide the sigh that passed her lips before she spoke.

"I, uhm, yeah. I guess so."

Another moment of silence.

"It already looks like it's going to be a long day today. I'm mostly likely going to be at the police station by the time you get out. You're probably going to have to ask for a ride home," her eyes widened a bit as he said this, "Is that alright? I'm sure someone won't mind giving you a lift."

Her objective of the day was to get through with minimal talking. But, of course, he was oblivious to the fact that his daughter had **zero** social skills. Hell, he thought that she was going to miss all of her 'old friends' back in Diamond Heights. When in reality, she only had two max, whom she rarely spoke to unless they needed something from her.

"U-Uh, dad, I-I don't..."

Her voice faltered. After a few seconds, she just nodded her head as the words failed to deliver. There was no point in trying to explain herself.

 _She was walking home. There was no doubt about that._

"See ya later, sweetie!" she hears as the sound of the passenger door closing rang in her ears. The noise even seemed to capture the attention of others as they looked in her direction. Or maybe they were looking at someone else? Whichever the case, she suddenly felt as though she was naked, exposed, as all of these new pairs of eyes looked her way.

She made herself as small as possible as she sped to the entrance, navigating through the crowd that was forming to go inside.

She pauses as she gets inside. So many faces. And not a single one she knows. That feeling alone makes her feel inferior and alone as if she weren't already feeling that way.

 _She didn't belong there. She knew that._

Her only saving grace was that she had her classes and locker sent through email the day before. Fewer people she had to talk to, the easier the day was going to be.

She silently prays that she's on the right path as she begins walking down the main hallway while glancing up at the locker numbers. Even if she wanted to ask, everyone around her seemed to be engrossed in chatty conversations and overall ignored her small presence. She finds herself squinting harder than usual as the numbers blur together.

 _Goddamnit forgot my contacts again._

She mentally facepalms herself in frustration as she has to move closer to the metal doors, almost as if she's hovering over them, to make her eyesight readjust. Even then, the font is too small to distinguish properly.

 _Come on, where's 1076?_

She stops in front of one in particular as she believes that she has found her locker. Yet, she's barely able to make out the last few digits. Her face is so close to the metal that it looks as if she's smelling it. And she can. It doesn't smell good.

 _Is that it? ... I-I think that's it... Uhm right?_

She debates in her head if what she's seeing is right. The last number looking like a '6' but then again, if she is to tilt a bit to the right, it doesn't. A bell goes off and Lillian jumps. Everyone around her starts to move a bit faster, ending their conversations, as they all know that it means that they now have little time left.

Deciding to not stop someone and ask for help, she takes the risk. She starts to put in the combination that she's memorized- hoping for a miracle that it works on the first try.

"Wait, ' _switched_ '?" Scott exclaims as he walks down the hall side by side with his best friend, peering over at the paper in the paler boy's hand, "That literally makes no sense."

"Yeah, I know," Stiles says, trying hard to not get upset.

"Why the hell would they do that?"

"Maybe it's a mistake. Or maybe they're fucking with me. I dunno, this is stupid."

"How many of your classes?" Scott sighs out.

"Like three of them, man." Stiles sighs as he looks down at his new schedule in dismay. It's the beginning of a new semester and it was already starting off on the wrong foot. Getting handed a brand new schedule when he loved his old one put him in a sour mood, "Algebra II with you, World Studies with Lydia, and Honors English with Lydia and Megan are now gone. _Poof_." he says with hands and a poked out bottom lip. For the first time, he had a schedule that he liked, now that was ruined for him.

"Hey, how's Megan doing by the way? I haven't seen her since before the break?" Scott asks in both a bland, yet 'I'm-kinda-interested-to-know' tone, "Sometimes I forget she's my beta."

Stiles was too focused on all of his new class changes to answer him right away or notice his tone. He was in his own head. It was weird. The classes were all at the same academic level, nothing higher or lower, yet they were rearranged. A different order. He never requested for a change and he was pretty sure his teachers didn't request one either- yet here the new classes were in his hands. And there was nothing that he could do but pout.

"Uh, she's doing fine. Oh, and her birthday is in a few months." Stiles finally says to answer Scott's question.

"In a few months? So?"

"Remember the last time I forgot about it?" Stiles shivers at the flashback as he remembers her outburst, "And we weren't even dating then. I have to start planning early."

"A few months early? That might be a bit extreme-" Stiles dismisses his comment.

"Y'know, I was thinking of giving her this customized…"

Stiles stops. Immediately. Whatever he was going to say was gone in an instant.

"What?" Scott asks when he notices that his friend had stopped talking mid-sentence.

He looks up from the ground and glances at Stiles, following the direction of his eyes. The golden brown hues were focusing on a brunette girl who was at his locker and twisting the combination knob in visible frustration. Stiles cocks his head to the side as his eyes dart down at his schedule and then back at the girl a couple times, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Wait, did they change your locker too?" Scott asks.

"No, no they didn't."

Stiles hands, or rather shoves, the baby blue paper into Scott's chest, making the boy take a step back as it catches him off guard. Stiles begins walking over to the side of the hallway and stops when he's about two lockers away from the brunette. His mouth begins to open to say something to her…

But then he stops…

The words are never released as he gazes at her profile. He admires her long, dark eyelashes. Her face structure. The way that she is biting the side of her lip as she was trying to concentrate with all of the noise surrounding her. He even catches the light, subtle freckles that dot on her rounded nose that was upturned as she squinted.

He mentally stops himself when he realizes seconds later that he's staring. He sighs to himself as he shakes his head, refocusing. With an oddly quickened heart rate, he moves in closer until they are only a few feet apart.

 _What does he say to her? Does he come off friendly? No, no intimidating, she's trying to break into his locker- No, no, she must be new. He's never seen her before…_

"Uh, h-hey there," he greets a bit too loudly. He sees that she jumps and tenses up at the sound of his voice.

 _Shit, too loud. Too loud. Good going, Stiles._

Her eyes don't seem to want to meet his as she stares at her shaking hands, or well really, any part of him in that case. However, after a moment with lingering hands on the combination, her gaze moves to the left and into his eyes.

The direct contact catches Stiles off guard as he finds himself gazing back into the hazel hues. Lillian sucks in a breath when he doesn't look away and she then quickly retreats her eyes back to the metal door. Stiles clears his throat, he was expecting to have his heart pounding in his throat. He tries to ignore it.

"I think you have the wrong one. Locker. I think you have the wrong locker. This is, uhm, my locker… yeah. At least I should know that, due to the fact that I've had it for the past few years. Well, y'know, Unless they changed that too. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised. It feels like someone has it out for me or something."

It takes her a moment through his rambling for the fact to finally register that for the past two minutes she was trying to break into someone else's locker. Completely embarrassed, her face turns a light pink as her fingers slowly releases the metal knob.

"S-Sorry," she tells him in a low voice that he can barely hear, "I-I didn't mean to- I just…"

"I'm guessing you're new?" he tries, his face moving closer. She doesn't return his gaze and only nods, "Okay. So, uh, what locker was you looking for? I could help with that if you want."

She really, really, didn't want him to. But what other choice did she have at this point?

"...1076."

"Oh, really? Well that's right here," he points to the locker directly next to his', 1075, and gives it a light tap, "You were just one off," there's a drain of color in her complexion for a split moment as she realizes that she's right next to him. He gives her an amused smile, "Hey, it happens to the best of us," he tells her as he refers to trying to open the wrong locker, "Sometimes more than once," he adds.

She says something under her breath that Stiles can't hear and puts the combination in again as she takes one step over. As soon as she puts in the last digit and pulls, as if like magic, the lock clicks open. Again, embarrassment washes over her body as she closes her eyes and cringe.

" _For fuck's sake…_ " she mumbles. She opens her locker and finds that she was already delivered her textbooks beforehand for all of her classes, one of the only silver linings of her day so far.

"Oh, what class do you have right now?" he asks her as he glances at his watch. His voice makes her jump again as she didn't realize that he was still there. With shaky fingers, she gets ahold of her new Physics book. Her digits trembling as they tap alongside the cover, "I can show you-"

"I have to go. Bye," she quickly says as she loudly shuts the door. With her head down low walks right past him. His brows furrowed together, a bit confused at her shyness, and turns his body as he watches her leave, her body small and fragile looking the farther she goes.

"Name's Stiles!... By the way… yeah," he attempts to say but before he's done, she turns the corner and is out of earshot, "Huh. Well, that was... that…," he speaks his thoughts out loud as he continues looking down the hallway to where she once was. Scott strolls over to his friend, shoving the schedule right back into his chest with the same amount of force and with a light smirk. Stiles' back lightly hits the locker as he continues staring down the hall.

"You really know how to talk to girls," Scott teases as he heard the whole thing, and cringing the entire time at the awkwardness between the two, "Phenomenal work my friend."

" _Oh, ha ha ha_ ," Stiles sarcastically says with a glare, "Not like you could've done any better."

Stiles says this and as soon as he does, the two look at each other.

"Yeah, you could've."

"Yeah, I definitely could have."

They say at the same time. Stiles glances at his friend.

"You didn't sense anything, did you?" Stiles asks. Scott shakes his head, knowing what he is referring to.

"No. She isn't supernatural. Just... shy. You nearly scared her to death."

"Yeah… yeah, I got that part," Stiles says, mostly to himself. The second bell rings above them, signaling that they only have a few more minutes left. Stiles runs his hand through his hair as he almost forgot about his new schedule, "Ah shit, ugh, gotta go. Catch you later."

Scott watches as Stiles leaves, who looks a bit confused as he goes down one hallway and then a few moments later comes back and goes in the opposite direction. Scott bites the corner of his lip, wanting to tell his friend something else, but not knowing if he should. About Stiles' chemo-signals when he was talking to the girl. How Stiles felt deep down during the exchange that only lasted about a minute. But felt like a century. The way his heart was beating wildly in his chest and throat…

He didn't even think that Stiles knew he felt this way in the short amount of time. But Scott could practically feel everything. The girl wasn't different but everything she was feeling was masked with pure anxiety. Scott shook his head, knowing that telling Stiles all of this wasn't the best idea. He sighed and kept their first encounter in the back of his mind as he walked away.

...

Stiles went down several hallways he wasn't used to at this time of day. He usually had his Physics class at the end of the day, but now it was his first. This transition made his head spin. As he was trying to navigate, he felt arms around his waist from behind and judging from the firm grip, he knew it was his girlfriend Megan without looking.

"Oh, hey, Meg-" Stiles was interrupted by a rough pair of lips slammed into his, as she snaked herself in front of him. He stopped walking entirely to pull her away gently. She smiled up at him, mischief in her eyes.

"Hey, I've been looking for you. Had to sniff you out, babe," her eyes glowed a neon yellow as she moved in closer and Stiles' eyes widened as he started to panic a bit, pulling her away to the side, and looking around to make sure no one was around.

"Megan, your eyes," he hisses low, "I thought you said you were working on it. I thought we were working on it."

"I-I mean- I have been," she tries to convince him, but he looks at her sternly. It's been six months since she was bitten by Scott. She wasn't entirely new at this. She had to learn. Before someone sees something they're not supposed to, "Maybe I do need some help. Maybe you can help me?... Just… not here," she said in a low, sexual tone in the shell of his ear as she begins kissing it.

"Megan-" Stiles tries to say, before his eyes close and a soft moan accidentally emits out. This only fuels Megan's actions as her lips go to his neck, "We can't-"

"Can't hear you," she says against his neck. He was falling putty in her hands.

It was no lie that Stiles and Megan's relationship mainly consisted of sex. A good 70% of it was sex. That was a known fact. And it wasn't necessarily that Stiles didn't entirely enjoy it, he was a hormonal teenage boy after all, and the sex was good.

… But there is a large part of him, especially after the whole honeymoon phase, that wanted his first real relationship to be more... Well, wholesome than sensual. And the first word to describe their relationship was, well: _sexy_. Stiles didn't always want that. That wasn't what he always wanted.

Of course, Stiles had tried multiple times to tell her this. He wanted to slow things down and just be a regular couple; study together, go to a movie. He wanted to have the type of relationship where they could talk all night on the phone. However, whenever he mentioned this, it would be to no avail. As with each time, Megan would look as if she were listening, and then presume to stick her hand down his pants. Resulting in, well, more sex.

Stiles finally snapped out of it as he begins pulling her away from his skin.

"Megan, stop," he manages and she just rolls her eyes as she starts pulling him with her.

"Come on," she started pulling on his arm, "We'll be having fun in a minute."

"That won't be necessary, I-"

"Stiles, let's go," she started tugging harder. He pulled back.

"Megan, I have to-" she didn't let him finish.

"Stiles-" they were starting to get looks.

"Megan, seriously." he hissed back at her, she was shocked by this. But she was more shocked by the fact that he was resisting her.

"Wait, are you telling me no?" she said as she pointed at herself, "Come on, I've been waiting for you," she goes back to his ear, "All morning I've been thinking about us being in that supply closet. Come on, _don't you want me?_ "

A lump forms in his throat, and he's not sure if it's from the sexual tension or for his desire to get away from her. He moves his head away from her.

"I- I- I just- I'm telling you not right now," he backed away from her. He's finally able to break free, but that doesn't stop her from following him into the next hallway.

"Come on if you're worried about getting caught, we won't," she said with a roll of her eyes that he couldn't see, but feel, as his back was turned.

"Actually, we have been caught, _three times_. That poor janitor was scarred not once, but three times." his tone came off as annoyed. And Megan took offense to this as walked in front of him, his steps staggered as he almost runs her over. Yet with her enhanced strength, she is able to take on his full body weight as he runs into her like a wall. Her hands find their way to his hips, her fingers encircling the loops of his jeans.

"That's what makes it so hot- don't know if you're gonna get caught or not," she yanks him into a lustful kiss, but feels the frown against her lips and leans back, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I'll see you later, alright." Stiles boldly says, despite the look on her face telling him not to, as he releases himself from her grip. He could hear her growling behind him the further and further he went.

…

Lillian was completely lost. The first-period bell rang a few minutes ago and she had no idea where the hell she was going. Regret for not asking anyone or letting that boy help her was starting to settle in.

 _Ugh, I should've just of let him show me the way!_

However, there was a silver lining of hope when she saw that she managed to get to the 200s hallway.

 _Yes, come on, I just need 206!_

She started walking faster as she had finally found her way. As she was looking up at the doors, Stiles was looking down at his phone, preoccupied with Megan virtually yelling at him to notice that they were walking in the same direction.

 _204.. 205..and 20-_

She was transferred out of mid-thought as her body collided with another. Stiles' phone is knocked out of his hand in the collison, as Lillian's full body nearly falls into him. His hands are firm yet gentle on her hips as he attempts to keep them from falling to the ground. Lillian regains her footing, her head shooting up to see Stiles' face mere inches from her's.

Her eyes immediately widen as she sees him again.

"Hey... a-again," he says. Her mouth opens as she tries to speak, but this only alerts her at how close his lips are to her's. She jumps out of his grasp.

 _Come on, Lillian, say something!_

"Looks like we're in the same-"

Before Stiles can get another word out, Lillian swings the classroom door open. The unexpected lightness of the door surprises her as she nearly falls opening it, her momentum fully taking over.

And all eyes are on her as a hush goes throughout the classroom. The professor was in the middle of going over the coursework for the semester when Lillian barged in, Stiles behind her with a surprised face. Her face turns to faded crimson color as everyone silently looks at the two of them. Stiles slowly walks in behind her as she stands upright and let's go of the door handle. Soft snickers fill in the air as comments are made by students.

"Mr. Stilinski. Miss. Sanders. Nice for you two to join us today."

…

Three periods later, it was lunchtime. An half an hour of socialization. Up to this point, Lillian was somehow able to avoid the major of social interaction with her peers. She was seated in the back of every class she had so far, which sucked for her eyesight but she didn't complain. Her neighbors didn't pay much attention to her and that was all that she could hope for. Not to mention, she hadn't seen that brunette boy since early in the morning.

Well, he was in two of her classes, Physics and English. Which so happened to be back to back. Which resulted in Lillian awkwardly following behind Stiles, and Stiles debating if he should talk to her or not. He didn't. But he acknowledged her presence with a glance.

Regardless of that, she hadn't seen the sight of him since then…

Lillian's back slid down the metal surface of a couple of lockers as she sat down in the empty corridor. She pulled out her brown paper lunch bag in the still silence. She gazed around, there wasn't a soul in sight. However, unbeknownst to her two hallways down, Stiles and Megan were in the janitor's closet.

"Baby, just make this easy for me." Megan's voice was hot against Stiles' face, her lips on his cheek as her hands were practically ripping apart his flannel buttons.

He couldn't believe he fell for Megan's ruse. It seemed innocent when she asked him to walk with her to put her books in her locker. But as soon as no one was in sight, Megan yanked him into the janitor's closet that was conveniently beside her locker.

Now, she was on top of him trying to pry off his shirt. His backpack was discarded without care as she threw it in the corner against the shelves. The dim, rusted light that shined above them provided little visibility.

"Meg, I'm not having sex in the janitor's closet!"

"It's not like we haven't done it before. Remember? Three times," she's managed so far to get the first few buttons off, but he resists as he buttons the loops back up.

"Megan stop."

"Fucking grow a pair-"

"Meg!" he yells at her, growing tired of the antics. She stops. For the first time, she was listening and really looking at him. Finally out of whatever haze she was in. But soon, she once again seems to look through him as she sees nothing wrong in what she was doing. He tries to sit up, but she was in his lap, "What is up with you lately?"

"Stiles," she attempts to kiss him again to shut him up, but he dodges it. He places his hands on her arms, pulling her away at a safe distance.

"Seriously, what's up?" she sighs out. She yanks her arms from out of his grasp and starts re-buttoning her top, seeing that he's not going to budge. The moment was ruined. Any arousal she had disappeared.

"Just…," she sighs again and tries to get her thoughts together. She runs her fingers through her hair in what seems like frustration. Her words come out slow, almost thoughtful, "Do you ever feel as though things are going to change..? Just like… a gut feeling? Like one day everything seems normal. The normal that we know… And then... something that you can't explain just… changes?" she questions him. He's taken aback, surprised at how serious she's being. He nods his head, "Yeah, well-" she stops, her enhanced hearing picking up on the squeaky wheels of the janitor's cart down the hallway.

"What?... Meg, what is it-?"

"Old dude is gonna be here in 10 seconds. Gotta go!" She says quickly, getting off of Stiles' lap as she grabs her bag and fixes her blouse. She steals a kiss as Stiles stands up before dashing out. Her scent lingers as she is soon out of sight within seconds.

Stiles, completely frazzled and disoriented, tries to recollect himself. His flannel is opened in odd spots, his hair is a mess, and his skin was flushed. He snatches up his backpack and exits the closet, before meeting the gaze of the confused janitor. Covering his face, even though it is too late in trying to hide his identity, Stiles runs in the opposite direction. The disapproved grunts of the old man fades away as Stiles rounds the corner.

He soon becomes lost in the hallways and huffs in and out deep breaths of relief once he feels that he is at a safe distance. Stiles collects himself as he glances around, he wasn't familiar with this part of the school. A soft crunchy sound catches his attention. The sound wasn't foreign to him, but it took him a moment to figure out what it was.

… _Plastic_ …

Pivoting to the right, he was surprised to see the brunette girl with the timid eyes. She wassitting by herself in the empty corridor. Lost in her own world as she listened to music through earbuds. Stiles was sure that he could hear her humming. He isn't sure how, or if, he should approach her, but his feet move on their own. Softly and barely noticeable. He's a few feet from her when she finally registers that he's there. She's frozen in her spot as he slides down next to her, his arm almost brushing against her as he plops down. She looks at him in disbelief as she scrambles to take her earbuds out, being conscience of the fact that they were loud and he could probably hear the music blasting into her ears.

Apart of Stiles questioned why he took interest in this girl. Enough interest to sit next to her during lunch and make sure she wasn't alone. There was something about her that intrigued him.

"Hiya." he starts, she glances at him and then quickly averts her eyes when he looks back, "Seems like we can't get away from each other," Stiles tries to make the atmosphere light. But Lillian still seems stiff and tense, "Who were you listening to?"

"I-It doesn't matter, some stupid band," she says in attempt to change the subject. At her old school, none of her "friends" listened to the music she liked. She assumed most people didn't. She didn't think that his boy would either.

"You don't strike me as the type of person to listen to a stupid band."

Was that a _compliment_? She paused for a moment.

"I'm sorry if I freaked you out earlier," he says sincerely. She cringes to herself as she remembers the collision from a few hohou ago. She shakes her head.

"Y-You didn't, it's just- I'm not good with people... That's all. Never have been."

"Me neither. I'm definitely not. People either find me annoying or not focused at all."

He tells her, her lips turn into frown. She didn't find him annoying at all. She takes a quick glance, it being enough for her to notice how disheveled he was.

"Um, what happened to your shirt… and your hair?"

"Uh, let's not talk about that," he mumbles, as he tries his best to fix his hair and readjusts his clothes.

"... Why are you here?" she asks. She without a doubt knew that he had friends. Why was he here with her?

"I was going to ask you the same," he looks at her and again she meets his eyes, and the second she does, she looks away and past him, "You seem pretty lonely sitting by yourself."

"I like being by myself. I like the quiet," she tells him genuinely. She was always the type of person to keep to herself, never the loud or party type. Complete wallflower.

"Oh. Well, I'm not bothering you, am I?"

He asks, now regretting that he might be ruining her alone time. Her eyes flicker over to him as she shakes her head.

"N-No, you're fine."

"You sure?" she looks at him with furrowed brows and somewhat amused eyes.

"Yeah,... I'm sure."

She says as bites into her ham and cheese sandwich that she packed that morning. There's a pause. Stiles fidgets with the end of his sleeve.

"Y'know,... I didn't catch your name earlier."

"My name?" she says with her mouth full and quickly swallows, "Why do you want to know?"

"I-I mean, there's n-no particular reason," he stumbles, "I mean- I've been running into you all day and- I just… you look like a… Valerie."

She gives him a strange look and he looks back at her with confused-like puppy dog eyes. Innocent. Endearing.

"Not a Valerie I'm presuming?"

"Nope," an ever-so-slight smirk makes the corner of her lip tilt up. He examines her a bit more, looking at her long brown locks, her soft cheeks, and round nose. And sees her ever-so-light, subtle smile. Lillian turns away again as he seems to be studying her, trying to figure her out. But she's warming up to him, even if it's only a little.

"Kimberly? You're a Kim."

"No."

"April? Or are you more of a May?"

"Wrong and Wrong. And my birthday is in August."

"Huh… Julia?"

"Uhm, how many times are you going to guess?"

"Until you tell me. I mean I have like 50 different guesses off the top of my head," he shrugs, "Well, at least you know my name, right?" she gives him a blank look, mimicking her mind as she blanks on what his name could be. He sighs and holds out his hand, "Stiles. I'm Stiles."

"... Lillian," she sees that he's trying, genuinely, and with a small voice tells him her name. She reaches over and gently shakes his hand, his grip soft as their palms meet. No one's ever been interested in knowing about her... So it's weird for her. And when she sees him smile, she's confused, "What? Not what you expected?"

"No, it… It's a pretty name. Just like the flower."

She tries hard to stop herself from blushing as her mouth opens, closes, and then opens again.

"I-I-I don't find it very appealing. In elementary-"

"I think it suits you perfectly."

He tells her genuinely. She pauses. Her mouth closes and her hands fumble with her water bottle. Stiles catches her smiling to herself shyly as she brings the drink to her lips. He reaches into his bag, the sound of plastic rips through the air as he opens a bag of chips. He pops a few in his mouth and looks at Lillian.

"Want some?"

...

The final bell chimed throughout the school at exactly 2:30. A mass of teenagers soon filled the streets as the students embarked on their after school activities. Having to walk home, Lillian was in no rush to go anywhere. She took it easy, being within the last batch of students to exit the building.

As she walked down the stairs, her gaze focused on the line of vehicles, where she saw all the cars parked in the junior lot. But there was one in particular that really catch her eye. It was a blue jeep. She didn't know why though, it wasn't new and it looked a bit beat up. There were nicer cars surrounding it, but the jeep, even with it appearing to be a bit run down… It just stuck out to her.

Yet, she shook her head, leaving the trance the vehicle put her in as she put her earbuds in and continued walking her way home.

Megan entered Stiles' jeep moments after Lillian left campus and with apparent anger. But at the moment, Stiles didn't notice as he greeted her and pulled out of his parking spot.

They got onto the street, and he glanced over, finally seeing that she was fuming in her seat as they were halfway to her house. He furrowed his brows as he kept on looking between her and the road. He didn't say anything, not wanting to get into a fight, they were about three minutes away from her house and maybe if he kept his mouth shut then-

"Who's the girl?"

 _Shit_.

Stiles glanced over at his girlfriend, feeling his foot push harder on the accelerator. He was sure his heart was now beating out of his chest but he didn't know why, and he knew that she could hear it. The pitter-patter skyrocketing in a matter of seconds. But nothing had happened. He just talked to her. That was it. That was all. Despite that, the tension in the car was growing rapidly.

"W-What are you talking about-?" he pulls into her driveway.

"Oh now you want to play stupid? Fucking tell me!" she raised her voice. He was trying to find the right words to calm her down. It wasn't a situation to get mad at. Really, it wasn't. He knew that. He needed to get her to know that.

"Mega-" he reached over, attempting to touch her arm, but she stops him as she gets ahold of it. Her hand is rough on his bare bicep, his flannel no longer on. She stares daggers at him, her grip increasing at every second as she looked at him with disgust. He winces.

"Don't play this bullshit with me, Stiles! Who was she? I can fucking _smell_ her on you!"

"Megan, stop! S-She was just the new girl! I-I was just talking to her!" her grip was getting tighter. She was strong before, and due to her now being a beta, she is even stronger. Her nails were piercing into Stiles' flesh, his skin was growing redder and redder by the second, "S-Stop! Megan- You're hurting me!"

"Why should I? You're hiding something, aren't you? I can hear your heart rate dumbass, there's something you're not tell me!"

"No, no there isn't, I swear!" she still holds onto him, her nails digging into his flesh, "I'm telling you the truth- LET GO!"

 _"MAKE ME!"_

 _"MEGAN THIS HURTS-"_

 _"SHUT THE FUCK UP-"_

 _" **MEGAN, PLEASE**!"_

Stiles yells out, tears at the brink of falling out. Relentlessly, she let's go. As she releases her hand, the imprint from her palm and fingers remain. Stiles hisses as her fingers leave his skin, the pain radiating like fire as her nails were digging into his sensitive flesh.

Growling under her breath, Megan storms out of the jeep, slamming the door to get the last bit of rage out of her. She runs her fingers through her hair, trying to calm herself down as she walked around, going over to Stiles' side of the car with resentment still in her eyes as there was a lingering sense of doubt. Stiles slowly peers over at her, not wanting to show that there were tears welling up in his eyes and a lump in his throat. He tenderly touches where the new bruise is going to be. He winces. He blinks away the blurriness and swallows down anything he wanted to say. Everything. Down his throat. Not out his mouth.

"Next time, that bruise will be the least of your troubles," she tells him bitterly. The air between them is cold and stiff. They're looking into each other's eyes and there's no warmth. She looks away uninterested and breathes out an, "I still love you."

There's zero sympathy and compassion in her voice, not even looking him in the eyes as she says it.

"I-I…" his voice breaks, but he regains some of his composure, "I... love you, too," he says slowly, but with all his heart, sincerely, "That'll never change."

She turns around, hair flipping back as she walks up the steps to her house. Not looking back as Stiles exits out of her driveway.

As soon as his car is turned around, as soon as he's sure that Megan can't see him, Stiles breaks down. He digs his fingernails into the wheel and fights back the lump in his throat but fails as a deep sob escapes. His vision is impaired as tears stream from his downcast eyes. He pulls over, having to stop driving as his emotions get the best of him. His hands shake violently against the wheel, arms stiff, as his head is bowed, hiding his shame from no one as his cries become silent.


	2. Warnings

_**Chapter 2: Warnings**_

A few days had passed since the new girl's arrival and Megan had been laying low. " _Laying low_ " was much unlike her character. Ever since Megan was bitten, she had been the center of attention at Beacon Hills High, her provocative nature was always being talked about around school. People didn't understand why she acted the way she did, but they didn't dare question either. She was untouchable and expected to stay that way until she graduated.

However, she did have an objective for this sudden change.

Megan was known she has eyes all over the school. Informants that did as she said without hesitation. Majority of the school knew of this and it sent a wave of fear down anyone's spine as they didn't know who could be watching them at any given moment. Being on Megan Matthew's shit-list was not a good place to be. It didn't take long for her to find found out the girl's name- the girl who was talking to _her_ boyfriend. The girl that she confronted Stiles about a few days prior. The girl she _swore_ she smelled on Stiles. _That girl._

She had paid off about a dozen people the morning after her and Stiles' argument. The informants ranged from freshmen, who heard her name multiple times from their peers in awe and horror, knowing of her reputation; to upperclassmen that hated her guts but liked the cash she offered; to students that were aids in the office and could look up files. They all did the dirty work for her as she kept her hands cleans, and acted oblivious as to what was going on behind the scenes as each class period passed. They were the ones hiding behind the corners and eavesdropping. They were the ones subtly questioning Stiles' peers in each of his classes. And they were the ones that followed Stiles around during different parts of the day, throughout the hallways, without him having any idea that he was being watched. They were everywhere, yet they were invisible. They were Megan's eyes and ears. And one by one they had all heard the same name. They all saw the same girl.

 _Lillian Sanders._

Megan laughed it off at first. She rolled her eyes with newfound ease. When she stopped laughing, she leaned against the girl's bathroom door, crossed her arms and immediately cut the freshman girl off for making up lies. She took away all the money she promised with a snap of her fingers, and threatened that if the small girl told _anyone_ what she had did that she would, "- _make her life a living hell_."

And Megan was _good_ at keeping promises.

There was no way, _a zero percent chance_ , that it could be Lillian Sanders. **H** **er** Lillian Sanders. The Lillian Sanders she knew years ago. If Lillian was at her school, on her campus, right then and now, she was sure that she would've found out about it as soon as the girl had set a toe in her halls. But when the second, third, and even fourth person confirmed that it was indeed Lillian, having proof of a detailed description; her face, her hair, and eyes... Megan's laughing turned to anger.

So, Lillian Sanders, the same girl that was once her best friend, is in Beacon Hills? Lillian Sanders, the person that she once trusted the most, who was her dearest friend, that ended up betraying her trust was here? Lillian Sanders, the girl she pushed to the ground and screamed bloody murder at for telling everyone her secret? The same Lillian that Megan said she hated straight to her face? Now, she came here and is now flirting with her boyfriend? Having secret meetings with the boy she loved? And was once again, ruining Megan's life?

 _It was all too perfect. It was all too coincidental. It had, it just had, to be a lie._

Megan, in a fit of anger, fired all of her informants and threatened the next one worse than the last. She didn't feel obligated in fulfilling her promise to pay them and kicked them to the curb without a second thought. Now, she was furious and being part werewolf didn't help with that one bit. The empty classroom she locked herself in was now trashed as she threw things around. Everything was in disarray as she tried to calm herself down, her eyes glowing as she growled. But she was going to get her way, and that final thought made her stop in heavy breaths as she slid down the teacher's toppled desk and onto the floor.

She wasn't going to let someone come and snatch away what was her's.

 _And Stiles… He was her's. No one else's._

* * *

 _There was something… different about Stiles. Something that no one could put their finger on._

Scott sensed it whenever he was around. Lydia questioned it when they sat together at lunch and the boy was just quiet and mumbled an excuse. And even Lillian saw it when she would see him in class. This was only her third day knowing Stiles, he was in three of her classes- Two back to back and one after lunch- And she saw it. She barely knew him, but... something had changed.

Lillian went to her locker for the final time that day. She glanced over and that's when she heard him approaching. She tensed up at his presence... Yet…

 _Nothing happened._ His eyes were glued to the inside of his locker when she glanced at him and it was as if she wasn't even there. Normally, she would've been thankful to be invisible, but this didn't feel right. She was a ghost and his eyes just seemed hollow. There was no life in them.

Not a word passed his lips. To think of it, he didn't speak in class at all that day, it was as if he was mute. Stiles was by far the opposite of mute. The look on his face said it all as his eyes looked like a lost soul. Something was wrong. But before she could say anything to him, before she could get out a single word, he closed his locker and walked away. As he was leaving, he glanced back at her as he could feel her gaze that he once ignored. Their eyes met as he turned his head but she didn't understand the conversation he was trying to have with her. The silent words ended as soon as they had begun as he was gone around the corner. The look that he gave her made her feel worrisome. She didn't have heightened senses or chemo-signals, but the way he looked at her for those mere 3 seconds confirmed that he wasn't okay.

The way he looked at her the first day and now were polar opposites.

...

Now it was Friday. The end of the school week. By this time, Lillian swore that the suspicions she had were right. She was at her locker, this time early in the morning before her first class and she thought about if she should talk to Stiles. Talk to him... and...?

And what she would say to him? She didn't think that far ahead yet.

She had let a few days pass and now it was really bugging her. She wasn't a person to initiate a conversation and with how her first day went, she was used to him doing it even if she wasn't always willing to communicate back.

But now there seemed to be a wall. It was bothering her to no end at how miserable he seemed. How there was a faraway look in his eyes. Between the time they went home on her first day to the time they got back on her second, something noticeably shifted in him. Like day and night. She prepared herself to talk to him as soon as she saw him walking into school, and she promised herself that she would say something, anything to him. Wanting to make an effort.

 _It was going to be simple, right? Just having a normal conversation, like a normal human being, right? It's not that hard. Just talk to him!_

"H-Hey," she stammered as soon as he walked over to his locker. Immediately she mentally slapped herself at the stuttering and sounding so quiet and afraid. He glanced at her, seeming to not notice it as his mind was somewhere else. He struggled to smile as if everything was fine. The smile was small, small and fake. Lillian recognized it immediately. She was the expert in fake smiles and Stiles wasn't fooling her.

"Hi," he said low, the first word he's said to her since her first day there. She saw that he was favoring his right arm, hissing under his breath as he lifted it to reach for his book. He noticed that she saw this and made an explanation right away without a second thought, "Oh, I hurt my arm practicing for lacrosse. It's been sore all week," she squinted her eyes, not buying it as she thought of something else to say. She wasn't good at this. Not at all. But she was going to try.

"Is... is everything okay?"

"Huh?"

"It's just... you haven't really been-I-I don't know," she was trying to put her thoughts together and form them into words. Yet, really she didn't know him well to just come out and say it... But she knew... She just knew something was wrong, "Are you okay?"

He gazed at her as there was a shift in his eyes. And for the first time, she looked right back at him, looking into his eyes to see the answer for herself. She was hoping that he would at least tell her that everything was truly fine and that she was thinking too much. She felt as though she was prying into his personal life. She didn't like it but she felt as though she needed to do it. Something in her insisted that she should. Some unknown, unfamiliar force in her wanting to make sure that he was okay. For real. Stiles was just surprised that Lillian was looking at him, _like really, really looking at him_. Eyes that were so filled with concern as all she wanted was his well-being. Stiles hadn't gotten a look like that in a long time... But he couldn't tell her what was really going on. No, but he wanted her to at least be at ease.

"I'm fine," he breathed out as he shut the door, "Really. Just had a rough couple of days, that's all."

His response wasn't at all convincing even though those were the exact words that she wanted to hear. His eyes didn't match what he was saying. They were still hollow. They still lacked their light. _The_ light that only Stiles Stilinski has. Lillian thought about retorting, but the words never came out when she heard the voice of another. A female voice. Lillian's eyes flickered away from him and past him… and to a green-eyed, blonde girl of medium height that was approaching. Lillian's heart sank. She sucked in a quick breath as she felt as though the floor underneath her had vanished. She and the girl met eyes for the first time and the air felt stiff and cold. A harsh chill goes down Lillian's spine.

 _No... no, it... it couldn't be... It wasn't possible. There was no way-_

"Hey, babe," she said. Her voice was all too familiar, less nasally than she remembered, but it was the same, "I've missed you so much."

The girl came up from the side and wrapped her arms firmly around Stiles' neck, having him firmly secured in her touch. Due to their height difference, it makes him have to lean down as she planted a kiss on his lips. A long, teasingly slow one. One of Megan's eyes opened and she looked at Lillian with a glare. Lillian looked back at her with a shocked face that Megan _wished_ she could take a picture of.

Megan parted from Stiles, their lips making a wet _popping, smack_ sound as Megan leaned away. Her hands lingered on her boyfriend. This made Stiles noticeably, to Lillian, tense up. His body language screamed that he wasn't comfortable doing any of this in front of Lillian, or at all for that matter. Meanwhile, Lillian stood there uncomfortable, not knowing whether she should leave or not. Her legs were frozen in place, but her hand pushed her locker door shut and that's when Stiles looked back at her. He wiped his lips awkwardly, rubbing away Megan's gloss, and gestured to the girl with her arms now around his torso. They all stood there for a long pause, not knowing who was to speak first. Stiles took the initiative as he cleared his throat.

"Lillian," he looks at her, and she looks at him. She was afraid for the next words that would come out of his mouth, "This... this is Megan."

Lillian didn't dare break eye contact with Stiles as she knew that Megan had her eyes piercing into her soul. Lillian's eyes hesitatingly look back at the aforementioned girl and she's met with what she expected. A look of unrelenting hatred that was covered with a smile. A fake one. But not like Lillian's fake smile or Stiles'. This one was different. Different in a bad way.

It was her. Really her. After all these years.

"Megan, Lillian." Stiles finishes.

Megan. _Megan Matthews._

The blonde extended her hand halfway to Lillian's. Lillian's hand hesitated as her eyes darted back and forth between Megan's eyes and hand, eventually, she met her halfway as her hand was loose and Megan's firm.

"Actually, we know each other," Megan informed him, glancing at him but he didn't look back, "We were actually best friends when we were younger." her eyes flicker back to Lillian, "Isn't that right, Lillian?" she spits her name out.

"Oh, really?" he asked surprised. The thought of Megan and Lillian knowing each other prior had never crossed Stiles' mind. In fact, the mere thought of them interacting gave Stiles anxiety. Did Lillian know Megan had a dark side? "You-you two were friends?"

He looks at Lillian for confirmation. Lillian could feel her breaths beginning to come out shallow as she nodded. Stiles couldn't pinpoint how Lillian felt as she wouldn't look him back in the eyes. Megan spoke once more, breaking the short pause.

"Yep. Known her since the second grade. Good old times, right, Lilsters?" Lillian nodded again. Almost automatically because if she didn't she felt like Megan would attack her right then and there.

"W-Well, that- that's great," Stiles stammered out. It came out more like a " _Great?_ " than " _Great._ " Lillian didn't know if Stiles was relieved that she and Megan were on these supposed "good terms and everything is apparent a-okay" or if he was truly concerned that Megan now knew who she was. It seemed like a bit of both. Neither of them could pinpoint their own emotions, let alone each other.

The bell rang and a feeling of euphoria ran down Stiles' body as he found himself and Lillian a way out.

"Well shit, first period already. Lillian, you have Mr. Kasey too, right?" he asks her as if he didn't know. She nods rapidly, "We're gonna go, Meg, see you-" Stiles starts motioning Lillian away as he detaches himself from Megan. Lillian begins to move, but Megan stops them right in their tracks.

"You go ahead, baby. I actually wanted to talk to Lillian," Megan says. Stiles' eyes dart from Megan to Lillian, but they set on Lillian as he hesitates on leaving her alone with Megan. Megan starts to grow impatient as Stiles lingers, "Stiles, you can leave. Now."

Stiles' eyes stay on Lillian. He won't budge until he knew that she was comfortable. Lillian's head slowly nods, signaling for Stiles to leave. Even though it was what Stiles was waiting for, it takes him a few moments to get his feet to move.

They both watched as he walked away, their eyes down the hall as he rounded the corner. He glanced back at Lillian once more before he was completely gone. There were few people in the corridor that they were in as Megan inched closer to Lillian. Whatever facade Megan had was now completely gone. The already tense atmosphere tripled as her lips ever so slightly touched the shell of Lillian's. Megan's sharp green eyes looking into the distance as she spoke to Lillian slowly.

"I know what you've been doing, Lillian. I'm not stupid."

Lillian's mouth opened and closed as she blinked rapidly in shock. What was Megan referring to? Lillian hadn't done anything as far as she knew.

"I... I don't- W-What-?"

"Don't ' _W-What?_ ' me," she mocks as she makes her voice insanely high, "If I were you, and I highly recommend this, I would watch your back."

"Megan, I-" Lillian tries but she stops her right away.

"Stiles- he is _mine_. He has been mine and you coming around is _not_ going to change that. You are not going to ruin my life again."

 _Again?_ Lillian tries to open her mouth, but Megan doesn't allow any words to come out as she continues.

"Stay away from him. _Or else._ "

Her voice got low and ominous. Her tone daring Lillian to say a word about this to Stiles or a word to Stiles at all. Lillian stood there, her hands shaking nervously as Megan leaned away from her face, looking her in the eyes. Lillian blinked at her as she was trying to let words come out of her mouth, but all she could manage was her name in a stammered hurry. Apart of her knew where this was coming from, but another part was just extremely confused and afraid.

"M-Megan-"

"I AM NOT," Megan started, yelling right in Lillian's face. However, the blonde lowered her voice as eyes looked in their direction, "I am not going to repeat myself. _Stay away from him._ "

Megan stressed every word out with gritted teeth. Lillian's eyes flicker down and see Megan balling her fists at her sides. Lillian was sure that her knuckles were turning white at how tightly she was holding her hands.

And then... something strange happened... Something that Lillian couldn't explain. It was when Lillian looked back into Megan's eyes. Lillian had to blink a couple of times to make sure that she wasn't seeing things.

Megan's _eyes. What the fuck was going on with her eyes?_

Lillian felt the air being sucked out of her as she gazed back into golden, neon yellow hues. Glowing golden, neon yellow hues. The color was so vibrant that Lillian thought she was going to pass out after looking into them for too long. It was like when people wore different colored contacts for cosplay, how the color could be both beautiful and mesmerizing yet it scared Lillian to death. After a moment, Megan was growing annoyed of Lillian's shocked face as the girl was opening and closing her mouth.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Megan asked and it took everything that Lillian had to speak.

"Your... your eyes." her voice was small and airy.

"What?" Megan snapped. There was a shift in her face, her intimidating glare turning into a look of concern.

"They... T-T-They're-" Lillian stuttered, "What the fuck is happening to them-"

Megan looked away from Lillian, turning her entire head as she tried to turn her eyes back to normal. Lillian saw them. She wasn't supposed to see.

"Fuck... godfuckingdamnit," Megan said to herself, finally feeling her eyes shift again and going back to their original forest green. She looked back at Lillian with an annoyed look, knowing that she knew that whatever had just happened wasn't supposed to have happened, "Just stay the fuck away from us."

Megan walked past Lillian as she shoved Lillian's shoulder into the lockers. Lillian's mind went into overdrive as all she could hear was the clicking of Megan's heels against the tiled ground soon disappeared. Lillian tried to breathe out, but it felt as though she had a wall pushed against her chest. It took her a minute to recollect herself and she turned to her locker and shut her eyes

It was under a minute before the final bell when Lillian walked into Mr. Kasey's class. Stiles' eyes were locked on her as soon as she walked in. As an impulse, Stiles stood up from his stool from where he sat in the front, his body prepared to go over to her when she entered the classroom.

There was a noticeable drain in Lillian's face and eyes when she looked at Stiles, and the look of " _Don't come anywhere near me_ " made Stiles slowly sit down as Lillian scurried to her seat in the back.

The look that Lillian gave Stiles alone secured him in the fact that she was now terrified of talking to him. _What the hell did Megan say or do?_ He wondered. He shouldn't have left the two alone, even if it was only for a few minutes. Stiles knew what Megan was capable of. Even in a crowded room, Megan would get her way.

Stiles looked back at Lillian one last time. She felt his eyes on her, almost like a sixth sense as she didn't look back at him, only past him as Mr. Kasey walked in to begin his lecture on thermodynamics.

* * *

Lillian knew that there was weird about Beacon Hills... _Something_ was off about this town. But Megan's eyes? That was not what Lillian was expecting to be the key to the mystery of what made Beacon Hills, _Beacon Hills._

The weekend that followed didn't ease any of Lillian's nerves. In fact, being alone in her bedroom made her paranoid as the feeling of Megan watching her nearly caused Lillian to have an anxiety attack a half hour into studying for her math exam.

Without a doubt, Lillian could confidently say that she stayed up the whole 48 hours. She couldn't sleep, as every time she dozed off, those piercing golden eyes looked back at her in the darkness. Watching her. Lillian's mind wouldn't allow her to forget what she saw and her mental state was the consequence of that.

If Megan's plan was to make Lillian paranoid and sleep deprived, it was working.

And it wasn't just about Megan. No, it was also about Stiles. Actually, this had all started with Stiles. The abrupt change in his demeanor is what screamed **red flag** in Lillian's whole being. The way he went from a talkative, easy going smiley boy one day to mute, looks-like-he's-on-the-verge-of-crying shell of his former self is what fucked Lillian up to begin with.

The drained look in Stiles' eyes, the way he tried to deny that he was hurting- All of it put a bad taste in her mouth.

As much as Lillian's mind focused on Stiles, Megan somehow always creep up into Lillian's deep thoughts.

 _Megan_ ; at one time was the only person in the world that Lillian cared about. She was back in Lillian's life, as if for a second chance, and she _absolutely hated her._ This only being confirmation that the two were never going to be friends again. Megan hated her before she left Diamond Heights and now she saw Lillian as a threat to her first, serious relationship.

And now... her eyes glow? She hadn't seen the girl in years and now her eyes were different? What happened when Megan moved here? And would that happen to Lillian too if she weren't careful? Lillian's head was spinning at the thought.

What did this all mean? Did it mean anything?

Those questions are what kept Lillian in a daze. And now, it was Sunday night. She had just as much work as she had on Friday. Zero progress was made.

 _Fuck, what am I gonna do?_

Her eyes stared blankly at the Algebra II math book that was on her desk. She stared at the equations, but her mind wasn't there to figure out how to solve it. She looked at her clock; _11:32 PM._ She groaned as she shook her head, her eyes landing on her laptop, looking away and then going back to the laptop when she was suddenly filled with temptation.

 _It wouldn't hurt to try, right?... No, no this is stupid... But, maybe I'll find what I'm looking for._

Without much thought, Lillian opened up her laptop. She stared at her screensaver for a moment, debating if what she was doing was stupid. It was late. She had a lack of sleep. Maybe she was going crazy.

 _"Glowing eyes"_. She looked at the words in the search engine.

 _Had she really lost it? Had the move to this town really made her feel this much on edge?_

She tapped the "Enter" button and almost immediately she regretted it. She was about to close the device altogether and get some rest until a website caught her attention. It was that was much older than the others in the search list and it was written years ago in Beacon Hills, by an unknown author and it was labeled "Mythology of Supernatural Creatures". Lillian's eyebrow raised at the title.

 _S-Supernatural? There's no such thing. Right?_

She scrolled down the site, going past the information about vampires, hellhounds, and witches that admitted made her eyes roll. However, past that she stumbled upon the section about werewolves, one of the longer sections on the site.

Wolves had always interested Lillian as they were admittedly fascinating, and what was written down really intrigued her. She read through a few paragraphs, skimming through it until she got to one chunk of information that sent chills down her spine.

It was about the classifications of werewolves as not all werewolves were the same. The author talked about Omegas, Betas, Alphas, and True Alphas. And at first, Lillian saw it just as filler, until she got to the end, where the color of a werewolf eyes signify their position.

 _ **Red eyes - Belong to Alpha wolves, the highest position in a werewolf pack.**_

 _ **Yellow eyes - Belong to a Betas, the middle-ranking werewolves or to Omega werewolves, wolves that aren't in a pack.**_

 _ **Blue - A werewolf that has taken an innocent life, can be at any position.**_

Lillian read over the passage a few times and eventually closed her computer completely. Her body felt tingly as she started to feel that she read something that she shouldn't have. She was sure her face was pale like she had seen a ghost. With what she read...

 _Did this mean... Megan was a...?_

Lillian was left in her own head as she debated if she had truly gone insane. She could feel her breathing beginning to come out uneven, harsh and dry until the sound of a knock on her door takes her out of her trance. She jumps, turning around to see that her father was opening her bedroom door, his head poking out as he peered in from her doorway. He smiles at her, obvious to the fact that she was going to have another anxiety attack.

"Just wanted to make sure you were okay," he said. He had just returned home from work as he was still in his uniform. She nodded, managing to fake a smile as her upper lip was quivering with nerves. He nodded in response as he said his goodnight and started closing the door. Lillian called out and almost immediately regretted it.

"Dad!" she cringed at how loud she said it.

"Hm?" he hummed back as he reopened the door. She looked at him for a moment. She didn't know how to start. She hadn't thought that far ahead.

"This is... this is going to sound weird, but-but I need your opinion on this," she starts and he nods.

"Okay, what is it?"

"... Do... Do you believe in the supernatural, Dad?" it came out awkward and she felt stupid as the words passed her lips. He raised a brow at her and they furrowed together. Was this some new lingo that kids were saying nowadays?

"Supernatural? As in- like ghosts and vampires?"

"Well… Y-Yeah?" she said, but it came out more like a " _Yeah?_ " than " _Yeah._ " He gave her a weird gaze as he tried to make sense of what she was exactly asking. He didn't want to dismiss her, but he truly didn't understand what she was getting at.

"Uhm, why are you asking me this?"

"I-I mean," she starts, closing her eyes as she tries to find the words, "This town is weird, right? We both know this, Dad. And-And m-maybe it's weird for a reason? Like, like don't you just get the sense- a feeling- that things aren't really what they seem to be? That this town and its people are hiding something? And there could be a rational reason to this-"

She was rambling and her father raised a hand. She stops. This was the most that she had talked to him in a long, long time. But she was making no sense and he stops her.

"Lillian, sweetie," he started and her face falls. She recognizes this tone, "Come on, honey, don't be ridiculous. Yes, this town is a bit odd, but there is no such thing as the supernatural."

Her father told her this in a negative tone and chuckled with a shake of his head. Lillian paused. She had hoped that her father would listen to her and maybe even consider her side of things. But… He just laughed. Her heart couldn't even feel broken as a large part of her saw this coming. This attitude. This arrogance.

She debated in her head if she should spill everything about Megan. How she was back in her life and was possibly a werewolf. How her eyes glowed. But her voice got quiet and she gave up as she tried to retort. Her face falling completely if it hadn't already. She gave up. There was no way she was going to make him understand. Not now.

"Y-Yeah, you're right, Dad. I was just... I'm just tired," she excused her seemingly irrational behavior, "It's been a long week and I haven't really slept- That's all... I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Lil', goodnight."

"Night."

He left and when the door closed so did Lillian's eyes in defeat. She felt trapped in the new information she learned and trapped in a constant cycle with her dad. Trying to communicate anything with him was like pulling teeth. His denial about all of this started to make Lillian second guess herself. Maybe she _was_ just thinking too much. Maybe this _was_ too bizarre and the lack of sleep really was getting to her.

In fact, the incident with Megan's eyes was the only strange thing that has happened up to this point. The only indicator that Beacon Hills wasn't a normal town.

With a deep sigh, Lillian decided that it would be for the best if she dropped the whole charade as she was just making herself more and more paranoid. She back down on her bed and ran her fingers through her hair as she glanced at the study guides and textbooks that scattered her bed. Instead of attempting to start on her work, she laid her head down onto her pillow. Moments after, she was fast asleep.

* * *

After about one and a half hours of sleep and just over five hours of homework and studying, it was the start of a new school week.

Ever since Lillian had arrived at the new school in a different school district, she had been trying to adjust to the workload that opposed from her old school and workload. Tests were coming up and deadlines were closing in and Lillian had to play catch up. Hence, her trying to buckle down for the upcoming tests that weekend.

Lillian entered the school, her backpack feeling as though it weighed a ton as she groggily went into the building. She made a beeline to her Physics class, dying to sit down in a hopefully mostly empty classroom. She was about five minutes earlier than the rest of the students. She looked around and for a moment, felt at peace. She turned in the weekend homework and sat at her lab table in the far back.

Deciding to enjoy the few moments of quiet she had, she put her head down. Resting to catch up on the countless hours of sleep that she was craving. She was close to completely dozing off when someone sat in the stool next to her. She ignored this at first, putting her head further into her arms as the person didn't say anything. But then they cleared their throat. They wanted her attention.

She slowly turned her head, peeking her eyes over to see that Stiles was glancing over at her with a small smile. Seeing him there made her jump a little, immediately putting her head back down as she panicked. Her jaw clenched as she fully lifted her head. She remembered Megan's words and was afraid that at any moment Megan would walk in and see them together.

"Taking a nap there?" he asked and she lightheartedly rolled her eyes and she stretched.

"Trying to," she replied as she glanced around cautiously, "What's going on?"

"I just- I wanted to tell you that I'm fine," she furrowed her brows and he elaborated, "Last week, you seemed worried about me. But I want to assure you that everything's okay, really."

She looked at him blankly for a moment, partly because him saying this felt forced and sudden, but mostly because she was seconds away from passing out.

"Oh, okay," she said as he nodded, "Good- that's good."

She started laying back down, about to close her eyes as she was expecting him to get up and go to his seat. But he didn't move and she still felt his gaze in her direction. She sat back up as he was now looking at her a bit more, seeing something as she glanced back at him. The look was a bit intense, his gaze starting to make her more self-conscious, "What?"

"Nothing, it's nothing," he was holding something back.

"No, what is it? Is there something on my face or?" she asked and he shook his head.

"No- no, your face is fine," he said, and her eyebrows furrowed as the words came out a bit blunt, "I mean- your face is great. Better than most faces, I'd say-"

Okay, now Lillian didn't know if she should take his words kindly or if she was supposed to be offended. Was he calling her pretty? She wasn't sure. Lack of sleep didn't allow for her to focus on it for long.

"Stiles, what are you trying to say?"

"Are you, like, okay?"

"Just fine," she said without hesitation.

"No really, you look beat. You look like you've barely slept, which I guess explains the nap," he told her in concern while trying to be lighthearted and nonevasive.

"Well thanks," she said sarcastically, "I know I look like shit-"

"You- You don't... just tired."

"Stiles, I'm fine."

"From my experience with girls, usually when they say " _I'm fine_ " they mean the exact opposite."

She looked at him with a deadpan expression before rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She wanted to brush off his concerns, she didn't want a person she barely knew being worried about her. Similar to how she shouldn't worry about him and his problems. Especially with Megan around.

However, in the back of her mind, she had to remind herself that he had no clue about her conflict with his girlfriend. He was just concerned. He was trying to be a friend. He wanted to make sure that she was okay. She had to admit- she didn't look her best and felt awful.

"I just," she sighed as she explained her dilemma, "I have a lot of work to do. I have like three tests coming up and all weekend I wasn't able to focus," he looked as if he was even more worried now, "B-But don't worry about me, okay? This'll pass. Really. I've been in worse situations."

That couldn't be any more of a lie. This was definitely one of the worst situations she's been in. His eyes soften a bit as she puts him a bit at ease. However, his heart still doesn't feel right.

"If you say so, Lillian."

The bell rings and people start filing into the room, the atmosphere changes as more and more people enter. He gets up from the seat and they share one final look before he goes to his assigned lab station at the front of the room.

…

Lillian and Stiles didn't speak much to each other for the rest of the day. Lillian's reason was due to Megan, not wanting to risk the chance of her popping up out of nowhere. As Lillian did best, she laid low. She didn't want any trouble, but unbeknownst to her, Stiles was going to get her into more.

On the other hand, Stiles' reason for not talking to Lillian was because he had a plan.

Scott and Lydia were a bit surprised at his pitch, it wasn't the craziest thing that they've ever done, not in the slightest, but it was something that neither of them wanted to do. They barely knew the girl and what Stiles was proposing was a bit out there.

"I don't know, Stiles," Scott said with a sigh. Lydia bit into her grape, pondering.

"I've heard that she has like, major social anxiety. I don't think that popping up at her house is a great idea," she eyed him and he shrugged as he took a bite of his sandwich, "And besides, we barely know her. And how will we know where she lives, huh? Did you think about that? What are we going to follow her after school like a couple of creeps?"

"No, no of course not," he sounded a bit offended that Lydia would suggest such a thing like that.

"Then what's your plan?" Scott asked.

"I recognized her last name almost immediately. My dad just hired her's a couple of weeks ago. He's a deputy. I can find him in the system easily" he tells them with a wave of his hand and both Scott and Lydia gaze at him. Him being able to find out with information with apparent ease weirds them out, "I-I've found out weirder things before, okay?"

"That, I don't doubt," Lydia tells him, "But just- this whole thing- it just seems weird. I'm pretty sure this is the only thing that Megan and I would agree on."

She brings up Megan and something in Stiles' face shifts. Scott sees this. But Stiles tries to mask the sudden rush of adrenaline he feels when Megan is brought up. He wants to focus on Lillian and Lillian only.

"You two are some of the smartest people that I know. And Lydia, come on, you passed that Algebra II exam with a perfect score freshman year. Scott, you memorized the _Great Gatsby_ front to back. The least we can do is help her out."

"Why are you so persistent on this, huh? What's your deal?" Lydia grills him and he looks her dead in the eye.

"From what I can see, she has no one here. She knew Megan, but they seem estranged. She's struggling and she has no one. I'm one of the only people she's talked to... I just... I want to help. If she was here, Allison would've-"

" _Stiles!_ " Lydia practically yells before covering her mouth in shock. She looks at Stiles with widened eyes as he has said the forbidden name.

Stiles and Lydia gazed at each other, their table in suspense as a few moments passed where Scott didn't say anything. They never talked about Allison. It was like they all silently agreed that mentioning her was prohibited. She died during their freshman year in a car crash, the day before prom in a storm. Lydia was her best friend and Scott was her on-again-off-again boyfriend. For the past two years, their group had been silent about it, and now it was like Stiles had just ripped the bandage off of an old wound that was now bleeding again by mentioning her name. He looked down to see Scott clutching and unclutching his fist, Scott's eyes wandering around.

"He didn't-" Lydia started, but Stiles finished.

"S-Scott, I... I shouldn't have just brought her up like that. I-I'm an asshole, I-"

"No, no," Scott said and lifted his face to show that he was actually smiling, "It's okay. We should do this. We should... help her out. That's what we do."

"Not really anymore, Scott," Lydia told him and he gazes at her, "We stopped doing that when we got Megan," she murmurs, glancing at Stiles. He rolls his eyes, knowing well that Lydia disliked Megan as most people did.

"Well, we should get back to it. Stiles, if you're that concerned and feel that this is best then... I'm in," Scott told him. Lydia sigh turns into an irritated groan as she throws her head back and closes her eyes. She's outnumbered.

"Well, it's 2-to-1. Guess I'm in too. But I'm telling you, this is creepy and weird and she'll hate it."

"Or this is cool and nice and she'll love it," Stiles tells her with squinted eyes, but there was a sense of doubt in his mind. Lydia was a girl after all, maybe she knew better than him.

* * *

Lillian's hands uncovered her eyes as she hoped that living table filled with her work would disappear. However, her wishes didn't come true as the papers and books stared back at her. Her fingers went through her hair, trying her best not to pull it out.

Lillian wanted to scream, to cry, something to let out a large amount of the stress that she was feeling. How was she supposed to study for a math exam, a Great Gatsby test, and memorize all of the amendments to the Constitution in such little time?

As if the universe knew she was about to start on her work, her doorbell chimed. She jumped at the sound. She wasn't expecting anyone and her father wouldn't use the doorbell.

She hesitated. Almost instinctively, she thought about waiting out whoever was there. However, when she looked through her front window curtains, she could barely make out the cars that were outside. A motorcycle bike, a dark blue Toyota Prius, and a light blue jeep all on the curb that was opposite of her house.

 _The same jeep from her first day..._

What were the odds that the same jeep was now right outside her door? Now feeling curious, she jumped up from her spot and to the door. There was no going back once she turned the doorknob, soon discovering that there were three people at her doorstep. She nearly slammed the door back shut in horror as her eyes did a double take. Her heart dropped in her stomach as Stiles was looking right back at her, being in the center of his two friends.

"Hey," he greeted her casually while she was about to have a nervous breakdown. She looked at him with flying saucers for eyes, "These are my friends, Lydia and Scott." he pointed to the two by his side respectively. They waved but Lillian didn't wave back as she continued looking at Stiles as if he was speaking some foreign language.

"U-U-Uh, hi? A-Are you guys at the wrong house or?" she stammered out and Stiles shook his head, "How did you even know that I lived here?" Stiles began to open his mouth, but Scott stopped him before he could speak. Her knowing that probably wouldn't be the best.

"Stiles told us how you have a crazy ass workload," the male on Stiles' left side said, Lillian glanced up at him when he talked. Her eyes unintentionally gazing at his crooked jawline and the leather jacket he wore with his motorbike, "And Lydia and I wanted to help you."

Lillian's eyes flickered to the strawberry blonde on Stiles' right side. The two girls shared a small moment of eye contact before Lillian's eyes gazed at the ground. Lydia's eyes looked at her more friendly than she thought they would.

 _Lydia Martin... I've seen her around school a lot and literally everyone knows her. She's so popular and like the complete opposite of me... and yet she's at my house? This all feels way too bizarre... but in a good way._

"So what? What is this exactly?" she asked.

"A study group!" Stiles declared but as soon as the words came out he furrowed his brows, his pointer finger scratching his temple, "That... sounded way better in my head- W-We just want to help you out, that's all."

"Okay...," her fingers were nervously tapping the wood of the threshold, "Uhm, come in."

Lillian awkwardly readjusted her footing as Scott and Lydia entered her house, speaking among themselves as they made their way over to her sofa. Lillian looks back outside to see Stiles observing her fingers that were still nervously _tap-tap-tapping_ her doorway. She jumped a bit when his eyes came into contact with her's.

"What?" she asked him, wondering why he was looking at her in that way.

"You're okay with this, right? You seem a bit anxious."

"Yeah well, three people that I barely know are in my house. Definitely doesn't make me anxious," she said, somewhat harshly. Realizing this she closes her eyes and when she reopens them, she looks at Stiles sympathetically, "Stiles, I told you not to worry."

"Just know one thing right now, I always worry," he tells her in a soft voice, "It's one of my faults, really."

"I just... you don't have to help me... Why _are_ you helping me? You barely know me." Stiles shrugged.

"Well, maybe we can change that," his tone didn't come out flirty, it was gentle and kind. _Friendly._ She didn't realize that that was what she needed until this moment, "But we can leave if you want. We want you to be comfortable."

"No... no, stay," she tells him, "This is really nice... and thoughtful, actually."

"And I _know_ that you'll get along great with Scott and Lydia," he tells her with a smile. Another thought comes to mind as the words slowly pass her lips.

"And... I'm guessing Megan couldn't make it?" she asks, looking around as if the girl was going to appear out of thin air. Stiles shook his head as his heart pounded a little faster at the mention of her name.

"No, no she couldn't. She's busy," he tells her, lying with ease as he was happy that she wasn't there. Because if she was, she would've been complaining the entire time. The two stood there, trying to recover from mentioning her name and the thoughts that followed.

"That's okay. Anyways, uhm, you can come inside."

Stiles small smile brightens up as he finally set foot inside her house. Turning around, she finds them all settling in, the once intimidating stack of work now looked small, insignificant with now the four of them to face. Scratch paper, textbooks, and pencils were soon out.

"What first?" Stiles asked, placing one of his pencils behind his ear.

 _..._

The stack diminished within a few hours into the session. The once awkwardly stiff air vanished into lighthearted stories and bonding between the four as Lillian was slowly allowing herself to open up.

She listened to Stiles and Scott's banter back and forth and soon enough she started adding her own comments to their conversation. This took the other three by surprise, as in the beginning, Lillian only spoke when she needed to. She was surprisingly witty and her confidence in her wittiness was fueled by Lydia's low murmurs of approval and smile. Her humor mixed well with theirs'.

Eventually, the four of them were just hanging out in her living room while watching TV. Lillian was able to talk to Lydia with this newfound ease, the two connecting like puzzle pieces, like magnets on topics here and there.

Their sense of humor was similar and it took Stiles by surprised when he heard Lillian laugh at one of Lydia's remarks. It was one thing when Stiles had seen her smile for the first time, but it felt like a completely different thing when he heard her laugh. It made him feel warm inside and made him smile. Stiles and Scott were in the middle of a conversation when Stiles paused and smiled, which made Scott take a mental note when he saw Stiles' reaction.

Some more time passed and the whole group came together. Stiles was telling them a story.

"And then Scott-" Stiles was interrupted as they heard a rhythmic knock on the door.

Lillian got up from her dent on the couch and went to the door. She was somewhat surprised to see that it was her father, who had a large stack of yellow folders piled in his arms, had knocked. He let himself in as he was trying his best to balance the folders, plopping them down onto the kitchen table as they slid into a mess. He huffed out, about to speak to his daughter about the day he had when his eyes finally see the other three teens in his living room.

The room is left silent for a few moments until Stiles got up within the group of three, walking over with his hand extended.

"Hi Deputy, I'm Stiles Stilinski," Stiles recognizes the man's uniform as soon as he saw it. And Lillian's father recognizes the last name as soon as he hears it. They shake hands, and Deputy Sanders measures the boy up and down, eyeing him rather suspiciously. The gaze making Lillian tense up, "It's nice to meet you, sir."

"Stilinski," he calls him by his last name in a low, harsh tone. Stiles' face falls as that is all he says, walking past the boy to go upstairs without another word. Stiles turns around to see the others looking at him, specifically Lillian, whose eyes give off an apologetic look.

"He's been in a mood," she tells him.

"What do you mean? He's in love with me already," he says as the two of them go to sit back down.

...

The group was left to their own devices as Deputy Sanders soon left to patrol downtown. And the later it got, the more the group started to trickle down.

First, it was Lydia as she had to pick up her mother from the airport. Lillian walked her out and the two exchanged a hug and phone numbers. That left it to Lillian, Stiles, and Scott.

And about half an hour later, it was Scott's turn as he remembered that he promised his mom he would bring her dinner at the hospital. Similarly, Lillian walked him out, and the two weren't as close as Lillian was to Stiles or Lillian was to Lydia, but the two were able to hold a conversation. As Scott settled on his motorbike, he looked at Lillian.

"Y'know if you want to sit with us at lunch, you're more than welcome to," he told her and she smiled. However, her smile didn't last.

"Thank you, but I don't think Megan would like that very much."

"Why does it matter what she thinks?" he asked her, and she just shrugged and shook her head.

"We're not exactly friends," she told him, "Haven't been for years."

"Well, you're our friend," Scott said, "And it would make Stiles happy."

"What do you mean by that?" she asked him, wondering why he brought up Stiles. He paused for a minute.

"I think he likes having you around," Scott left it short as he put on his helmet. Lillian felt a wave of butterflies when Scott said this. She waved goodbye as he left and turned back around to go back inside.

That left only Stiles.

Lillian's palms became sweaty as she shut the door behind Scott, realizing that she was now alone with Stiles. She turned her head and looked back to see him awkwardly tapping his foot and gazing around the now still room. Her stupid heart was pounding in her ears, she could barely hear him when he said;

"See. Told you that you would get along with them."

"Huh? Oh- y-yeah. Yeah. You did. We got everything done and they were just the best."

She sat back down in her spot across from him. There was a moment or two of comfortable silence. Normally silence made Stiles feel uneasy but with Lillian, it felt natural, tranquil. He didn't have to talk her ear off and she didn't have to try and think of something to say. They could sit and just enjoy each other's company.

She glanced at him and was taken aback by the smile she saw. It looked like it was a happy thought he was having and she felt curious.

"What?" she asked softly and his eyes reconnected with her's. He blinked a couple of times, "What's going on up there?"

"Hm?" it took him a minute to know what she said, "Oh, uh, it's nothing," he said in a way that made it seem that he was a bit embarrassed that she caught him.

"Nothing as in _nothing_ or nothing as in _something_?" she asked and this only made him smile more.

"It's just...," he paused for a moment as he was searching for the words and then looked at her again, "I haven't seen you smile or laugh until now... It's nice."

"Oh," she's at a loss for words for a moment. Of course, Stiles was the person that noticed her lack of pure joy, "I guess I haven't done it in a while."

"Why not?"

"Just... I don't know. Haven't been happy for some time," she tells him genuinely, and he nods understandingly.

"Well, I think that you should do it more often. People don't know what they're missing," Lillian rolls her eyes.

"They're not missing much."

"I think they are. You have a nice smile and laugh."

He tells her this and it takes her a moment to realize how genuinely happy he is to see her happy. Her face becomes red, for numerous reasons, and she lifts up her knees. She holds them up to cover her now flushed face.

"Thanks, you do too," he looks at her arrogantly.

"Oh, _I know_ ," he says and she gives another roll of her eyes as she chuckles. Stiles eyes the dimples in her cheeks as she smiles and he can't help but feel a warm feeling in his chest.

"You're ridiculous-"

"I'm the bestest? Yes, I know," Lillian looks at him endearingly.

"Do you have an off button?"

"Maybe, haven't found it yet," he tells her as they go back and forth.

He soon begins to gather his things as he realizes how late it now is after glancing at the clock. Lillian watches as he does this and that's when she realizes that he had taken off his hoodie, and was now just in a short-sleeved shirt.

As he extends his arm out, she catches a glimpse of what seems like a bruise on his right bicep... She only saw it for a mere 2 seconds, but due to Stiles' light complexion, the dark bruise is defined against his fair skin. Her stomach turns as she sees this and he doesn't notice her face falling and mood changing as he's stuffing things into his backpack. The atmosphere that was once fun and joyful for her turned sour fast.

"S-Stiles," she stammers out. He gazes at her, now seeing a shift in her face and the widening in her eyes. He looks at her confused. Her tone of voice a complete 180, her face looking at him more seriously, more stern even. _What happened? What happened in those few seconds?_

"What? What's wrong?"

"Your arm," she breathes out. His eyes widen as he stands up, starting to feel panicked.

"I-I told you, I fell down the stairs, I'm fine!" he tells her this while gathering the things that were now falling out of his bag. _No, no this isn't right._

"N-No. You told me you hurt it from lacrosse. Not from stairs," she corrects him. His eyes shift from his bag to her as he realizes his mistake, his inconsistency in his story. He was caught.

"W-Well, one thing that you should know about me is that I'm clumsy," he starts, trying to turn the narrative around. "T-The other day-" he tries, but Lillian isn't falling for it as she looks at him worried. Seeing through what he's trying to do.

"Stiles, what happened? Something bad happened. Am I right?"

"No, everything is fine, okay?" he quickens his pace, "I gotta go." As she stands up, he bolts to the door.

"Stiles!"

His hand is firmly on the doorknob when she calls out to him. He turns his head and Lillian is left speechless at the look in his eyes. The deep, _please-don't-worry-everything-is-fine._ Her heart hurts looking back at him.

"Stiles," she tries again, her voice small, "Please... Just tell me, I can help- I-" he stops her.

"Lillian, please, _just don't get involved. Please._ "

His voice is soft but his eyes are pleading with her, seeming to want to tell her more but he just can't. The look leaves her heartbroken. He departs from her house and descends down her stairs without another word. Lillian takes a step outside and watches as he gets into his jeep that was parked on the curb. He looks back at her one more time with a weary smile, before putting the keys in the ignition and leaving completely.

 _Don't get involved... get involved with what? What was he hiding? What was so dangerous that she couldn't know?_

* * *

 _ **(Hours Before)**_

 _He left her._ _ **He fucking left her!**_

 _Megan had been getting rides from Stiles ever since they first started dating and this was the first time in_ _ **months**_ _that he's forgotten to wait for her after school. Lydia was gone by the time she got out and she didn't bother to ask Scott._

 _And now she had to walk. And that pissed her off._

 _Luckily, she knew a shortcut to get home. She walked down this shorter route, her heels clanking against the pavement, as she was beyond furious at Stiles. She_ _was in the middle of cursing him out over text when something caught her eye. In her peripheral vision, which was sharper and clearer due to her werewolf abilities, she saw a blue jeep on Melody Avenue._

 _That was Stiles' jeep... And this wasn't his or her street! What the fuck was his car doing there?_

 _She clutched her phone in her tight fist and marched down the sidewalk. She stopped at the jeep and was certain that it was his due to his scent that lingered around it. But she also caught two other familiar scents. Her eyes darted to the two other vehicles parked close to Stiles' jeep._

 _Lydia's Toyota and Scott's motorbike?... They were here too? Why were the three of them together without her?_

 _She looked across the way from where the jeep was parked at. It was a cozy looking two-story home that still had it's "_ _ **SOLD**_ _" sign on its lawn. Her eyes focused in through a window, where the curtains left a crack for her to look through. That's when she saw all of them. Scott and Stiles sat next to one another... Lydia was on the other side... and beside her was a brunette girl... Wait, was that Lillian?_

 _Scott and Stiles' lips moved as they talked to one another. Megan could barely make out Lydia's smirk... And then Megan saw Lillian's eyes close, her mouth wide open as she laughed. The way that Stiles looked across the way at her and smiled as he joined in on the laughter. The scene made Megan's skin crawl and blood boil._

 _This was Lillian's house. Stiles was at another girl's house! In her living room, sitting with her,_ _ **laughing**_ _with her! Stiles never laughed with Megan like that. No,... not like that._

 _Megan's hand flinched as her claws pierced into her own skin, her anger causing for them to grow without her knowing. She growled under her breath as she started walking away from the scene. She had seen enough. Her eyes glowed, her vision becoming red as she felt her teeth sharpen in her mouth. She had told Lillian to watch her back... Now..._

 _Now she needed a wake up call._


	3. Crossroads

**_Hey Y'all, long time no see!_**

 ** _There's not much that I can say before we get started besides the fact that this chapter dives more into Stiles and Lillian's relationship. We start to see them become more as friends and potential lovers than acquaintances, but as you know, that journey comes with its consequences. What? Do you think that Megan is going to let that happen? Fuck no. You'll just have to read and see how she reacts ;)_**

 ** _Anywho, special thanks to those of you that fave and alert, means the absolute world. Thank you to the following:_** _NicholasDreamer4, Katybug21, HJPM, jerrbear16, and faultinourpeeta **!**_

 ** _And soo sorry if chapters take a minute to go up. Even though this is the revamped version of the original, I'm making changes here and there so that it can be the absolute best that it can be. I'm sure you guess understand._**

 ** _Without further ado, let's get into Chapter 3..._**

* * *

 ** _Chapter 3: At Crossroads_**

 _"Don't get involved."_

Those were the words that repeated over and over and over again in Lillian's mind. In her dreams, Stiles' face was so clear in her mind. His mouth moved, she could hear his words but couldn't help but notice how sad his eyes were. How as he begged her for her silence, his heart was breaking. In her dream, she tried to run after him as he was vanishing away.

However, she woke up before she could get to him. Her school alarm going off at exactly 7 a.m. She laid in bed for a moment as her alarm continued to chime, staring at the blank wall unblinkingly. The moment her eyes fluttered opened was the moment that her mind went into overdrive. She was surprised at the fact that she even fell to sleep, as she was having trouble for hours as she tossed and turned. The last few moments she was with Stiles was still playing over and over again in her head.

Of course, there was a part of her that wanted to relish in the feeling of finally having friends. However, another part of her worried.

She worried about the fact that she was hanging out with _Megan's friends and boyfriend,_ and there was the possibility that she had no idea. What will happen when she finds out? Was being their friend a shield from Megan's wrath or a reason for the blonde to try and get back at her? Lillian worried about the fact that Stiles was in trouble. With what or whom, she didn't really know. She could only ponder and worry.

 _He had changed his story. Two times. I KNOW for a fact, 100%, the first time he told me he said that he got hurt from lacrosse. So, why did he lie to me?- can he not trust me? Am I right, is there something wrong? I-Is it too dangerous to know?... Do I actually want to know?... Is knowing bad?_

 _... Wait, why do I care so much?_

She questioned herself. She didn't...? She didn't _like_ him, did she?...

 _No! No, no, I'm just- I'm just a concerned acquaintance. Plus, he is Megan's boyfriend. And what's going on with him is... it's none of my concern, right?_

But... even when there was the rational part of her brain; the part that tells her to stay away from anyone that was potentially dangerous or dangerous for her... Another part of her knew that she wanted to help.

Even though her _mind_ told her that she shouldn't- that she should just simply stay away from him and only worry about herself- Her _heart_ told her that she cared enough to worry. Her heart told her that she wanted to make sure that he was okay. For a guy she barely knew. For a guy that seemed to care about her as well. And if he was hurting... then what? Was she sad? Angry? Was it one of those stupid rom-com moments where if he was hurting then she was too?

At that moment, she couldn't pinpoint her exact feelings, but… somehow, someway... she knew that she was going to find out what was happening. It was bound to come out eventually, right? Whether it was accidentally or naturally, the universe was going to uncover whatever secret Stiles was hiding from her.

She finally got out of bed, sluggish at first, as she freshened up and put on her clothes for the day. She headed downstairs and saw that her father was at the kitchen table with two large stacks of folders on either side of him. He looked up at her, he looked just how she felt. Tired. Done with everything. Just exhausted. They started a one-way conversation, Deputy Sanders talking to his daughter incessantly about how since he was new, he got all the paperwork and patrolling duties that new deputies have to do. Lillian listened but didn't really listen. He talked and she made it look like she was listening.

This continued as he drove her to school. He continued on his tirade and she continued thinking about how she was going to deal with Stiles.

 _Maybe I should talk to him... No, no, he said not to get involved, I should listen to his wishes. But what if it's bad?... Like_ _ **really**_ _bad? And if I know about it, and I don't say anything... What if something bad happens to him? Or to someone else? I would never forgive myself._

 _Wait, no, no no- Lillian, you barely know him! You can't just pry into his personal life. That's not your place- But what if-_

Lillian was getting nowhere with herself. However, she was able to set her mind on one thing- she needed to be somewhere that was quiet. She made a beeline for the girl's bathroom, needing to avoid everyone at that moment.

Much to her liking, and being one of the only things to go her way, the room was hollow. Her footsteps echoed in the silence, the vibrations of her breathing were bouncing off the walls. She walked to one of the shiny, white porcelain sinks, and was about to turn on the water... when the door opened. Her movements abruptly stop, her breath hitches, as she sees Megan Matthews through the reflection of the mirror.

Her heart sinks, almost falling out of her chest and onto the tiled floor.

Her fingers grip the sides of the sink, as almost to brace herself. The sound of the lock of the door makes Lillian's eyes dart back up to Megan's face through the water stained glass. And of course, as soon as she does this, their eyes meet. Pure hatred. Lillian gets a look of pure hatred. And she's trapped. Motionless. Her jaw is clenched as there is nowhere to run or hide. She had to face her.

"I told you... stay away," Megan's voice is low. Sinister. Lillian turns around, facing her.

"Megan-"

"Why don't you ever listen to a goddamn thing I say?" she asks in disgust, "Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you?"

"I don't know what you're-"

"DON'T FUCKING PLAY STUPID!" Her voice booms. The next thing she does takes Lillian by surprise. She shoves her into the wall. Lillian's eyes widen as Megan's hand is jabbed hard into her chest, "I SAW YOU TWO TOGETHER! I TOLD YOU TO WATCH YOUR BACK! DO YOU THINK I'M **FUCKING** PLAYING WITH YOU?" She's close. Too close. Her breath is hot against Lillian's face, and she tells her, low and dark in her ear, _"I can end you at this school."_

"What have I done to you-?" she starts to plead but is quickly interrupted.

"Don't play that bullshit with me! You know exactly what you did! And, come on," she looks Lillian up and down unimpressed, "Do you really think that he wants to be with someone like you?" she tells her in disgust and then scoffs, "Look at me, and then look at you- You're not good enough for him so stop trying! _He looks at you and sees_ _nothing!_ " Megan smiles to herself as she sees Lillian's face fall. She's hitting a nerve. Her insecurities, her weak points. She knows all too well how to get inside her mind. " _You're just embarrassing yourself."_

"M-Megan, I don't want any trouble with you!" Megan can see that Lillian is trying to fight back both with her words and the tears that threaten to escape.

But Megan isn't going to let her gain the upper hand. She isn't going to let Lillian be in charge and make the rules. She came onto Megan's turf. Not when Megan constantly finds her with Stiles, her boyfriend. She isn't going to let her win.

Her volatile anger starts to become too much as she puts her hands on Lillian's shirt, gripping onto it as she tugs on it. She breathes heavily, growling under her breath as she stares daggers at the girl in front of her and pushes her into the wall. She can feel her teeth sharpen with every exhale. Lillian's breath hitches as Megan grabs her roughly and feels her back pressing against the wall, sandwiching her.

And that's when it happens again. Megan's eyes glow the same bright yellow that Lillian had witnessed not too long ago. Stunned, Lillian's face falls again as her eyes dart back and forth to each eye. In a way taking a picture even with her mind already racing with hundreds of thoughts. She wasn't seeing things, _this was actually happening_. Right in front of her, 10 centimeters from her face.

"Oh my God-" her words are airy and Megan snaps immediately.

"What?"

"What the hell is wrong with your eyes?" Lillian demands. Megan's hues go from Lillian to the mirror that's beside them. Looking back at her reflection, she sees what Lillian sees. _Her wolf eyes._ Panic consumes her as she blinked them away. It takes her a couple of tries for them to return to normal as her face adverts Lillian's. The grip on Lillian's shirt is soon gone as she is fully back on the ground.

"You'll pay for this. I swear to fucking God you will," those are her final words before storming out. Lillian watches as she leaves, chills up and down her spine and a lump in her throat as she knows Megan is good at keeping promises.

 _ **...**_

Lillian's father was noticeably flustered as he rummaged through all of this "fancy, going out to eat" clothing, trying to find the right outfit to wear for the occasion. He didn't say much about what was exactly happening that night, expect it was a "dinner with someone from work and their son". That was all that Lillian knew and she didn't question it. She was surprised however, she has only seen him like _this_ a small handful of times, out of his element and panicked, as opposed to his coolheadedness and relaxed personality. She second-guessed all of her dresses until she came across one, a navy blue dress with white polka dots. Her mother's.

Megan's words from earlier began to fill her mind when she looked in the mirror with her mother's dress. She looked herself up and down, disappointed in what she was seeing back. She attempted to curl her hair, hoping that this would make her feel better. However, she gave up halfway through and decided to go from a half up-half down look.

Even with this and some makeup, she didn't feel 100% secure in herself. She looked at herself for a long time, before sighing and exiting. Nothing was going to make her feel better at the moment besides the fact that whoever they were visiting, they weren't going to see her again.

 _This isn't worth the headache. It's just for one night. A few hours. And then this dinner will be over._

She made her way down to the first floor and watched as her father scurried around, his dress shirt partly unbuttoned, worry written all over his face. If Lillian didn't feel bad for him she would've laughed. When Lillian's foot touched the wooden floor, his eyes went to her and he stopped in his place. For a moment, he had a look of awe at his daughter. She never dressed up like this or did her hair.

"Wow," he told her, his voice and face calm, "You look beautiful, honey."

She timidly smiled, part of her not believing him, but another part grateful for his words.

"Thank you, dad."

They finally exited the house, it was 7 P.M at the time, and the sun was long gone as the moon was creeping behind a handful of clouds. Whoever's house they were driving to, Lillian's father was a nervous wreck and Lillian at this time began to question it. This main focus seemed to be making a good impression, but Lillian didn't understand why. If it was only another deputy, why was her father so worried? This sat in the back of her mind until her thoughts drifted elsewhere.

It wasn't long until they were parking behind a car on the curb, directly in front of someone's two-story house. Lillian looked up from her phone to look around at their destination. Her heart sank in her chest as she gazed at the car parked in front of them. It was a jeep, _a blue jeep_. She's only seen one car like this in town... _Stiles' jeep_? After a moment, she got out of the car and followed her father as they went up the walkway. She gazed at the home, a light illuminating through the thin curtains. The porch light, which was a motion sensor, shined above as soon as they were within a reasonable distance. Lillian's father knocked, adjusting his tie and clearing his throat. There was a click from the other side, and soon enough the wooden surface was pulled back.

"Deputy Sanders."

The voice was all too familiar. Lillian didn't have to look up, she already knew who it was. As her father passed the threshold of the house, after saying his welcome, Lillian was left there as she stayed back- face to face with the boy. Stiles Stilinski.

 _Of course. Of fucking course._

He was dressed nicely. The buttoned-up white, long-sleeved shirt fit his chest and arms nicely and the dark dress pants suited him. She had grown used to seeing him in his usual flannel and jeans. He looked back at her with the same face her dad made, also taking in her new appearance. She didn't keep eye contact with him for long as a strand of her hair fell from its place. She moved it behind her ear and darted her eyes away from him. But she still felt his eyes looming over her body. It wasn't evasive... it was flattering in a way.

"Lillian," he breathed in, leaning against the doorway, a soft smile appearing on his face, "You look... wow."

"W-What are you doing here?" she asked stupidly as she ignored his compliment completely. The shock was still setting in at the fact that he was here.

"I, uh, live here?" he squinted his eyes, his words coming out as if it were a question. Her heart was thumping in her chest and he sighed, "My dad always has dinner with the new deputies. It's like a tradition for the department. To get to know them and blah blah blah."

"You didn't tell me your father was my dad's boss," she told him, checking his eyes to see if he was trying to hide this from her. Nevertheless, he looked her directly in the eyes with the most innocent look she's ever seen and shrugs as he says-

"You never asked."

 _Seriously?_

Lillian begins to open her mouth to protest but it soon closes as she decides to not fight it anymore. She's here, isn't she? She might as well make the best out of it.

"Come on, dinner's done," he gestured inside and was welcomed to the cozy looking home of the Stilinski's. She could, in any other circumstance, feel at peace, but right now her heart was beating erratically and her palms were sweating. She made a beeline for the dining table, sitting next to the empty seat by her father. He was talking to the sheriff, who was placing the food on the table. Italian. On one side, there was Lillian and her dad, and on the other eventually came Sheriff Stilinski and his son.

Lillian didn't feel the need to talk at all during the meal as this whole thing was for her father and not her. She only listened to the words that were said and kept her eyes from wandering to the other side, where Stiles sat directly in front of her. She focused on how many times she was bouncing her leg, to keep herself occupied as she stared at her plate that was dressed in pasta sauce and a few pieces of the lasagna and salad. The food was honestly great, and as she ate, she felt a pair of eyes on her, at least seven times she counted.

Breaking her vow to not look away from her plate, she prepared herself to glance around the room. It was only going to be for a second. A second wasn't going to hurt. Right? Just a look at her father, the sheriff, and maybe Stiles all in six seconds, that was simple enough. Six seconds was all she needed... Okay.

She glanced up at her father and the sheriff, they were talking to each other, comfortable with one other. Her father was smiling at whatever the Sheriff was talking about. Nice, light conversation about the cases they were working on. Okay good. Those two were getting along nicely. Now, that was 2/3 on the rest of the table...

And that's when her eyes flickered over to Stiles. He had only been looking at her for not even a moment longer before she looked back at him. When their eyes met, there was immediate awkwardness. He had been caught staring at her, and to his surprise, she was the one who started to blush. She mentally cursed at herself as she felt her face turn to a dark red, heating up as the seconds passed.

Another moment passed as the two of them focused back on their meals and whatever the hell their dad's were saying. The redness soon left Lillian's face, until she felt a light kick against her foot. She slowly gazed back at Stiles, who didn't look back at her as he was chiming into the conversation. Confused, Lillian went to pick up some of her salad when she felt it again, a bit harder this time. Her eyes darted to Stiles', whose lips were beginning to curl up in a smile. Footsie? Was he playing footsie with her? Right then and now?

Almost impulsively, she hits his foot back, playing into his game. His eyebrow raises at the force as he eats, not expecting for her to do anything back. His eyes shift to her, eying her playfully, daring her to do it again. She takes a bite in response, the side of her mouth tilting up ever so slightly. She caught him off guard.

But he's not going to let her have the upper hand. No, he started this game and he's going to end it. He hits her foot again, going at 40% of his strength. This takes her by surprise as she wasn't expecting this much force. She jumps a bit in her seat but it's not noticeable as the two grown-ups continue their conversation as normal. Neither of them has any idea of what was going on beside them. She looks at him and he looks back at her. He was fighting a smile, feeling as though he had won until-

 _THUD!_

Lillian's knee hits the underside of the table as she went into kick Stiles' foot again. Her face turns bright red as the _thud_ echoes in the room and the conversation abruptly stops. Her eyes resemble deer in headlights as all three pairs of eyes are on her.

"What was that?" Sheriff Stilinski asks. Lillian's mouth opens and closes as she's about to explain, but no explanation can sum up the stupidity of the situation. She panics and Stiles sees that. He clears his throat and the eyes are now on him.

"It was me, dad. My foot started falling asleep and I accidentally hit the table. My bad," he tells him, and after a moment of silence, the previous conversation continues at where it left off. Lillian's eyes are hesitant to reach Stiles', but she can't help but snicker to herself at her mini freak out. She finally looks at him and sees that he's doing the same, even with his mouth covered, she can see that the sides of his mouth indicate that he's trying to hold in a laugh.

About ten more minutes passed when Lillian excused herself from the table after finishing her meal and thanking the Sheriff. She wandered into the Stilinski's living room, aimlessly walking, debating whether or not to watch TV. She gazed at the pictures that scattered the room mindlessly until she got to one that had a woman and a young boy in it. Looking deeper into the young boy's eyes, Lillian knew that it was Stiles when he was around the age of 4 or 5. He was seated in whom she assumed was his mother's lap. They shared the same dark brown hair, eyes, and nose. Young Stiles was a splitting image of the woman who was holding him and smiling into the camera. Lillian paused. There was no mention of his mother whenever the two talked or at this dinner... Maybe the two of them shared more than she thought.

"Hey," Lillian jumps at the sound of Stiles' voice behind her. She turns around, seeing him with his hands in his pockets, eying the picture that she was just looking at, "Looks like you found my mom."

"You look just like her," she tells him and he smiles softly, but his eyes are visibly sad.

"She would've liked you," he tells her. _Would've_? Lillian's guess at him either having a deceased or absent mother was confirmed sooner than she thought it would be. The two stand there for a moment until Stiles jabs his thumb in the direction of the front door, "Wanna go outside for a bit?"

"Yeah... yeah sure."

The both of them headed outside, Lillian following behind Stiles as he opened the front door into the night. The porch light illuminated above them as they seated themselves on the white bench that was to the left of the house. The night sky was clear, no clouds in sight as the moon and stars shined in all of their beauty. It was the type of night that you would go stargazing. It was just... peaceful. There was no other word that could describe it. It was the sort of peace that made your mind go numb and drift off. You could close your eyes without worry of another person disturbing you.

But of course, whenever you let your mind wander, it can go to the darkest of places. Lillian's encounter with Megan earlier that day once again began to creep into her thoughts as she sat beside Stiles. Her hateful words about Lillian's appearance and not being good enough made her want to curl up. She began to think about what she was wearing, how her makeup and hair looked, if she was trying too hard or if she wasn't trying hard enough. Her thoughts of self-doubt became external as her face shifted from relaxed to stressed. Stiles sensed the change as he gazed over at her, seeing her eyes make this shift. There was something going on.

"Hey," he told her. She didn't hear him the first time. He peers down at her hand that's placed on her thigh and gently touches it. The contact shifts Lillian's attention from her thoughts to him as she looks down to their almost interlaced fingers to his eyes, "Hey. Is everything okay?"

"What-? N-Yeah, yeah, I'm okay," Stiles looked at her unconvinced.

"Hey, if you're going to lie, at least be somewhat believable," he tells her and she sighs, not putting up much of a fight in continuing the lie. Her thoughts were written all over her face and she knew it. It wasn't just about her self-doubt and insecurities. She was thinking about Megan. What she saw. What she saw with her own eyes.

"There's just, uhm, a lot on my mind," he nods solemnly, "Not like that's anything new. But... I dunno, it's becoming a lot lately." She tells him this and Stiles secretly hopes that she's not referring to the bruise on his arm.

"Well? What is it?" he askes and she shakes her head.

"Honestly, I don't even think you'll believe me," she says. Okay, so this wasn't about his bruise. It was something... possibly something deeper?

"You can tell me," he told her confidently, "I'll listen."

"But _you_ can't tell me anything," she looks at him dead in the eye. He meets her gaze, she's serious. Dead serious, "It doesn't matter anyway."

She tries to deflect but he's not going to allow himself to give up that easily.

"Lillian, I'm not going to leave until you tell me what's bothering you. I promise I won't judge."

As she usually did, she hesitated. But the warmth of his hand against her's made the words that soon fell out of her mouth easier than she thought that they would be.

"Do you believe in the supernatural?" she's looking back at him, into his eyes, but his face is unreadable. For the first time since they've met, Lillian isn't able to pick up on how he's feeling. His face isn't cold, it's more... distant. As if he's observing her and her reaction, even though she asked him.

"Why would you ask?"

"N-Nevermind-" she cowards away from her question, feeling completely stupid and embarrassed.

"No. No, tell me, what happened? Did you- did you see something or-?" Stiles presses, but Lillian shakes her head as she stops herself from saying anything else. How was she supposed to tell him _"Oh yeah, earlier today as your girlfriend was threatening me her eyes started to fucking glow. Second time actually. No biggie tho."_ She just... she just couldn't. Even bringing it up in the first place felt ridiculous.

"Don't worry about it."

Stiles sighs, rubbing the side of his face as he examines her.

"You're really a tough nut to crack, y'know that?"

"Part of my charm I suppose," she jokes back, trying to keep the tone light. Nevertheless, his eyes saddened at the thought that he still isn't able to get her to open up. There have been a few moments here and there where he really thought that he got her comfortable around him. They sit in silence, looking at the neighboorhood, the sky, and the occasional cars that drive by.

"So, what is there to know about you?"

"Hm?" she hums out, eyebrows furrowed. He readjusted himself in the seat as he shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know exactly how to approach her, people were usually drawn to him as Stiles had a way of getting people to talk. They felt secure with him. Lillian was a bit tougher than that.

"What do you like yo do? Your hobbies? What do you want to do? What makes Lillian, Lillian?" he asked, making the subject about her and her life, what interested her, what her aspirations were. She never thought that he would be interested in stuff like that, but his full attention was on her. In all honesty, the way that he was looking at her made her want to cover her face as it felt like he was staring into her soul, her being.

"Well, I, uh, like music," she starts slowly but it comes out in a way that she doesn't even seem sure if what she said was right. Stiles nods. Okay, they were getting somewhere.

"Okay, do you play anything?"

"Piano. My mom had taught me and took me to lessons when I was young..." she says quietly, "She, uh, passed away years ago," Stiles looks at her with soft eyes.

"Mine too," she looks at him. The questions she had about his past answered, "I was 8 years old when she died... I like to think that she's happier now. No longer in pain and in confusion. But some days are harder than others, y'know?"

"Yeah, I get it," she tells him.

"She was actually the one that offered I play lacrosse, but she never got the chance to teach me."

"Who did?" Lillian inquires.

"Scott."

"Really, you've known him that long?"

"Yeah, ever since kindergarten. But he never wanted to come over to my house after school and I didn't understand why. Until I stayed with him. And I saw him and the other boys playing. He introduced me to it and I fell in love. I still play it 'til this day."

The look on Stiles' face as he reminisces is a breath of fresh air as Lillian's mind is able to focus on him and not her own troubles or Megan. She's able to see him smiling and happy. It makes her feel good knowing that he feels good talking about it.

"But you know what? I never learned how to play an instrument. I've always wanted to learn but I never got the chance," he tells her after looking into the distance for a few moments.

"Oh, well I always wanted to join a sports team, but I was always wondered _"What if I wasn't good enough?"_. Lacrosse always seemed cool," she tells him somewhat absentmindedly, not expecting to soon see the gears working in his head as his eyes light up.

"Well, what if I taught you how to play lacrosse? Would you teach me the piano?" he asked and she couldn't help but smile. Even when apart of her worried that Megan would find out, she couldn't say no to him.

"I mean, why not?"

"Really?" he asks, and she looks him in the eyes.

"Yes," as she tells him this, the same lock of hair from earlier slides down the side of her face. Stiles reaches over, putting the strand back into place between her ear. The entire time, Lillian is looking at him, and when he looks back he's taken aback yet in some type of trance. She wasn't one to hold eye contact, but at this moment when, with his hand on the side of her face, she couldn't help but gaze at him. Goosebumps spread like a wildfire throughout as his thumb softly caress her cheek. His motives weren't intentionally romantic but the way he looks back at her is filled with adoration.

"Stiles?"

"Yeah?"

Her eyes flicker to his hand and then back to him as the eye contact grows longer and it feels that he's moving closer ever so slightly. Stiles' face turns red and his eyes widen when he realizes how long he was doing this. He removes his hand from her face.

"I-I'm sorry- I didn't mean to-"

"I-It's okay-"

"No-No I just made things weird and-"

"Stiles," she stops him and he looks back at her, eyes returning to being unreadable, "It's okay," she tells him, trying hard to not smile too hard as her heart was fluttering and pounding at the same time.

The moment that they care shifts to the door as Lillian's father emerges from the house. The warmth from inside rushes out as it meets with the cool breeze of the night. The two teenagers stand up in surprise, both of their fathers obliviously ruining the romantic tension.

Deputy Sanders walks out as he is in the middle of saying goodbyes to the Sheriff, and soon Lillian is by his side as they walk down the steps. Stiles watches as she walks away, immediately feeling the warmth of her body leave the further she gets.

"It was great having you, Sanders," the Sheriff says, leaning against the door frame, with a smile.

"The pleasure was all mine, thank you."

"Bye, Lillian," Stiles calls out, waving, and Lillian glances back at him with a small wave, hiding her smile from everyone as she turns her head. He stuffs his hands in his pockets as he walks to the threshold of his home, stealing glances at her as he eventually shuts the door behind him.

He lingers there as he stares at the door's surface, fingers tapping on the wood, thinking about her. About their moment. How he thought about kissing her-

"The two of you seem to be good friends," his father comments from behind. Stiles looks back at his dad with his eyes slightly squinted, "She's a very pretty girl, I could see the two of you-"

"Dad, no," Stiles breathes out, not letting him finish, "We're _just_ friends, and-and I'm with Megan, remember?"

"Matthews?" Stiles nods, his father sounding as though he forgot about Megan completely, "Huh, I haven't seen her around here, how are you two?"

His dad right. Well, in a way.

Megan hasn't been around that much for the past couple of weeks, maybe even a month, or, at least for his father to see.

She would come in the middle of the night through Stiles' window, her usual way of getting in, for sex. And that's all she wanted. She was in and out without another word. She wouldn't even cuddle with him like he wanted to. He wanted to be able to hold his onto his girlfriend throughout the night without sex. Whenever Stiles thought about it, it made him a bit sad, but he had never told anyone... He just kept it inside...

"We're fine," Stiles eventually said. Sheriff Stilinski could see that things obviously weren't fine, but he didn't want to pry into his son's first relationship. He knew that he was going to have to experience it himself. He was going to have to learn. And Stiles didn't seem to want to talk about it either. And he wasn't going to force him.

"Just follow your heart, son..."

"Hm?"

"Whatever happens, no matter what, always follow your heart. Remember that," he tells Stiles.

He stood there for a moment in deep thought as his father walked away walks upstairs to his room. Stiles felt a sense of weight on his shoulders with his father's words.

Maybe he needed a change?

Regardless of how he thinks he felt or how he thought he should feel, he headed upstairs to his room. With a sigh, he plopped onto his bed and closed his eyes.

His phone vibrated on his bedside table and as he picked it up two different names popped up on his screen. The feeling of his heart pounding in his chest the way it did felt unfamiliar at the sight of one of the names.

 _ **Megs -**_ _Hey babe, maybe I can drop by 2nite? ;)_

 _ **Lillian**_ _**-** Hey, t_ _hanks for dinner. See ya around_

He looked at the two messages and pondered in his mind on who he should answer to first. He pressed the exit button on Megan's and instantly responded to Lillian's without a second thought. A smile crept on his face as he typed out the words. He was happy that he had her number.

 _ **Maybe we can work out our deal soon**_

He pressed send, his heart racing, as he awaited a response. He started double guessing. Did he reply too early? Should he have waited? Was he coming on too strong?

On Lillian's end, her heart jumped in her chest as her phone rang, signaling a text message. She leaned back in the seat of her father's car, texting back, and moments later, the phone vibrated on Stiles' end.

 _ **Lillian -**_ _Maybe :)_

* * *

 ** _Ooooookkaaaayyyyy, not bad, not bad. We definitely have some conflict but that's not stopping the connection between Lillian and Stiles. Do you think Megan is going to find out? And if she does, what the hell is she going to do? Is she going to take her anger out on Stiles or Lillian? Or both? WHO KNOWS?_**

 ** _Oh wait, I do._**

 ** _Anywhoooo, if you liked and are interested in more, make sure to fave and alert. It's very much appreciated._**

 ** _Until next time!_**


End file.
